Allergan PLC (NYSE: AGN) is expanding its worldwide reach.
The New Jersey-based drugmaker giant—which has significant operations in Irvine, including its medical aesthetics business—recently announced a strategic partnership with Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd., a subsidiary of China’s dominant e-commerce company, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., to launch a medical aesthetics consumer education and consultation platform for the Chinese market.
The platform will launch officially at the end of the month, through an Allergan-branded web page on Alibaba Health.
Consumers can access professional online consultation and make appointments for a treatment package of Allergan-branded medical aesthetics products offered by partnering hospitals and clinics.
China’s digital healthcare market is expected to grow from $293 million to $102.6 billion from 2014 to 2020, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group.
That trend is pronounced in the medical aesthetics segment, which typically focuses on younger consumer groups; China’s medical aesthetics market is expected to reach $20.6 billion by 2020, according to a report from Deloitte.
Alibaba Health said gross merchandise volume generated from this segment increased by 520% year-over-year at its 11.11 Global Shopping Festival last year.
The medical device and medical healthcare services segment of Alibaba Health’s platform alone has 85.5 million active users.
The new platform will allow Allergan to help authenticate the origin and quality of Botox for customers. The Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics said 70% of China’s Botox and hyaluronic acid, a type of dermal filler, is either counterfeit or smuggled into China illegally, according to a report last year.
Under the new deal, consumers will also be able to verify their products with the tracking service powered by Alibaba Health, scanning the drug traceability code on the Botox package in the Taobao, Alipay or Alibaba Health apps.
While Allergan’s bulking up its overseas partnerships, it continues to make moves in OC; earlier this month it announced a $195 million buy of Newport Beach-based Bonti Inc., which makes a similar product to Botox (see story, page 1).
Separately, Allergan announced the retirement of board director Paul Bisaro. He joined in 2007 when he was chief executive of generic drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., which was bought by Actavis Inc. in 2012 and later sold to Teva Pharmaceuticals, under the brand Actavis Generics.
That follows the previously announced retirement of Fred Weiss and addition of Michael Greenberg. Allergan’s current 11-member board includes 10 independent members. The company said the changes bring the average tenure of its board members to less than five years.
Greenberg is a professor of neurobiology at Harvard University. He co-leads the Allen Discovery Center for Human Brain Evolution at Harvard Medical School.
Speaking of Botox…
Irvine-based aesthetics medicine company Evolus Inc. (Nasdaq: EOLS) said last month it received Health Canada’s approval of its neurotoxin, DWP-450, for the treatment of moderate to severe frown lines.
The injectable is designed to produce an effect similar to Botox.
Chief Executive David Moatazedi said the marketing approval of its lead drug in Canada represents a key achievement in its regulatory efforts.
“We look forward to our partner providing DWP-450 to physicians and consumers in Canada in the first half of 2019,” he said.
Evolus will market the drug through its partner, Clarion Medical Technologies Inc., a Canadian provider of medical and aesthetic equipment and consumables to hospitals, aesthetic clinics and private medical practices.
Evolus hopes to receive Food and Drug Administration approval early next year. It has a $568 million market cap.
Pediatric Care
Masimo Corp. (Nasdaq: MASI) received FDA clearance for RAS-45, a respiratory sensor for infants and neonatal patients. The device was previously used to monitor adults and pediatric patients greater than 22 lbs.
The Irvine-based minimally invasive patient monitoring device maker designed the sensors to be applied to the patients’ neck area. For infants and neonatal patients, it will be applied to the chest.
“From the beginning, we have focused our R&D on neonates and children,” Chief Executive Joe Kiani said in a statement. He said the device “harnesses the power of our breakthrough signal processing and sensor technology and applies it to a measurement that has either been unreliable or difficult to use, respiration measurement, the third vital sign.”
Shares of the device maker continue to climb since its last earnings report, adding nearly 8% to $123.
That price represents an all-time high for Kiani’s company, whose stock has been surging all year, up 45% year-to-date to a $6.4 billion market value, fifth highest among OC public companies.
