Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) is expected to seek US approval next year for a new anti wrinkle drug that would serve as the stand-alone competitor to Botox. The company said the product could be made available in 2015 in the United States.

The anti wrinkle drug market enjoys annual revenue of almost $900 million (R8,3 billion) in the United States alone, and analyst’s are saying J&J could be a serious threat to the Botox market. Morningstar analyst, Michael Waterhouse said:

J&J is probably the only company that can go head to head directly with Allergan. They have a big marketing budget and sales force, and an attractive cosmetic portfolio of other products to offer dermatologists.

Experts, analysts and dermatologists feel that J&J would need to produce a product with a stellar competitive advantage over the current Botox remedy. Experts say the product would need to work faster, last longer and be significantly cheaper than Botox in order to impact the market.

Dr Kenneth Beer, a dermatologist with an excellent surname in West Palm Beach Florida, said “J&J is a company I’d take seriously; they have great research and try to be industry leaders in every category.” Beer also mentioned that customer loyalty may be a tricky task to overcome.

President of Johnson and Johnson’s, David Wilson said:

What we hope to offer is a product of certainly comparable quality to Botox…to basically be on par with them” in terms of effectiveness and safety.

We’ve worked to make sure our data are exactly what the FDA is expecting to see.

According to Morningstar Waterhouse, the J&J product would likely generate annual sales of $500 million (R4,6 billion) within five years as a cosmetic product. That number could double if the product gets approved for medical conditions such as migraine headaches.

[Source: Reuters]