Irvine-based lifestyle healthcare purveyor Alphaeon Corp. has hashed out a plan to narrow its focus on aesthetic medicine.
“The company, like most startups, started with a very broad strategy but we have since then analyzed where we have the most impact [as well as] most effective in creating value,” said Chief Executive Murthy Simhambhatla. Alphaeon is a subsidiary of Newport Beach-based investment firm Strathspey Crown Holdings LLC. Simhambhatla previously served as senior partner of Strathspey Crown, and before that as senior vice president at Abbott Laboratories and president of its Abbott Medical Optics unit in Santa Ana.
Alphaeon has long been pinning hopes on a deal struck with Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. in Seoul to develop new neurotoxin compounds said to be similar to those in Botox, the popular drug of Allergan plc used in facial aesthetics. Cosmetic uses of Botox accounted for net revenue in the third quarter of last year of $174.5 million, up 10% from the same period a year ago. Dublin-based Allergan—which has its U.S. headquarters in Parsippany, N.J., and operates its eye care and aesthetic campus in Irvine—has also expanded the use of Botox to treat overactive bladder, chronic migraines and adult spasticity-muscle control disorder.
Alphaeon and Daewoong announced positive third-phase clinical trial results of their Nabota in April, and plans to release the drug in the U.S. and Europe toward the latter half of the year.
Simhambhatla said Alphaeon also plans to continue building out its credit division and online store ShoutMD.
The credit business provides a wide array of monthly payment options for patients of self-pay aesthetic surgeries.
The Shout store, its “social commerce platform” for physicians only, allows them to rate, review, and buy products.
“These are not new [initiatives], we just decided to put the company’s focus now entirely in these three areas,” said Simhambhatla. “I wouldn’t say any of the [past] acquisitions didn’t work, but it was like trying to fight 10 different fronts.”
Off the list of potential expansions include ophthalmology and dentistry, despite recent acquisitions in various areas.
Alphaeon began last year with a buzz about its potential for going public. It had acquired Orlando, Fla.-based Lensar Inc., which makes laser devices used in cataract surgeries, and Rocol SA in Barranquilla, Colombia, which distributes medical equipment across Latin America.
Alphaeon’s board of directors consisted of prominent leaders in healthcare and business, including Christopher Cox, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman; Bosun Hau, a managing director and partner at private equity firm Sailing Capital Management in Hong Kong; stem cell pioneer and industry executive Hans Keirstead; and William Link, an investment veteran specializing in healthcare technologies who co-founded Versant Ventures.
The company did not go public. Simhambhatla took over the chief executive’s role from founder Robert Grant, who was appointed vice chairman of the company’s board in August.
Link recently left his role as chairman of Alphaeon. Cox has stepped down from the board.
Simhambhatla said the company will not branch outside aesthetic products and services in the near term, and stressed his confidence in the private-pay model. He does not rule out the possibility of the company going public “when the time is right.”
