Orange County Register

Don’t overestimate the effects that the slumping economy is having on baby boomers’ battle against aging.

New varieties of dermal filler keep appearing, which means that entrepreneurs know there’s still lots of money to be made in fighting wrinkles.

Here are two fillers that made news last week:

GROW YOUR OWN

Isolagen is a a custom-made injectable that consists of tens of millions of collagen-producing fibroblast cells that are grown from cells taken from a patient’s skin.

It successfully completed Phase 3 clinical trials last week, which sent the company’s stock soaring. Shares of Exton, Penn.-based Isolagen Inc. were worth 48 cents on Friday, Aug. 1, and closed at $1.30 a week later.

“Isolagen Smiles,” wrote Forbes.com.

“Investors Go Gaga Over Isolagen Trial Results,” said the Plastic Surgery Practice blog.

PAINLESS

Elevess is a filler made not only of hyaluronic acid (like Restylane and Juvederm) but also with lidocaine to dull the pain of injections.

Artes Medical of San Diego announced that it has started sales of this new product under a deal it struck last month with Bedford, Mass.-based Anika Therapeutics, which makes it.

Prevelle Silk, a similar filler from Santa Barbara-based Mentor, also contains lidocaine. It won approval from the Food and Drug Administration in March.

The mainstay product of Artes Medical is ArteFill, a plastic-based filler that is essentially permanent because it isn’t absorbed into the body.

Related links:

• Dermal filler-plus-painkiller Elevess gains access to new sales force
• Researcher’s guide to retinoids for young-looking skin
• CEO quits as maker of ArteFill posts $12.3 million loss
• Permanent filler ArteFill reaches 7,000-patient mark
• How Restylane reaches women over 35
• Bioform, maker of new Radiesse filler, raises $80 million
• Archive of posts on dermal fillers

For more on cosmetic medicine, see links on the right side of this blog

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.