Fillers: Part 2 – Maui Derm

Update on Fillers

Michael Gold, MD

Recently, Dr Gold published an article on an International Perspective on Fillers. In Europe, Restylane is a very large family of products. It is made by a company called Q-Med who is now owned by Galderma. Before the merger, Q-Med licensed all of the products to Medicis (now owned by Valeant). In the US, we have four Juverderm products. In Europe, they have various versions of Juvederm. We’re hoping to see Voluma by the end of 2013.

There are three Belotero products available outside the US. (Soft, Balance, and Intense.) We have the Balance product here in the US. Remember the term CPM that takes the cross-linking one step further, giving the product a longer duration. There are many fillers in Europe (150 companies) and Asia out there, but they may not be on the radar in the United States.

Atlean is often referred to as a second generation Sculptra. There is some hope that we may see Atlean in the US.

Anteis makes three products using the CPM technology as well. In the US, we will never see the Anteis products (because they are Belotero). In the rest of the world, where Merz doesn’t have the distribution rights, we will see the Anteis products—they are exactly the same and show some very nice results. Anteis also has another product, Modelis, which does some very deep filling. The Anteis Injection System reduces erythema and swelling and provides a significant improvement in injection technique. Dr Gold has used this in Europe and finds it easy to use and patients seem to do well.

Emervel is a product owned by Galderma. There are five Emervel products marketed in Europe without lidocaine, and four with lidocaine. These products are going to be marketed by Valeant because of the Q-Med agreement. There are two of them pending with the FDA (with lidocaine).

Summary

Europe has more fillers than the United States
FDA is more stringent
Costly to bring products to market

The China Filler Market

There are lots of counterfeit fillers. Doctors are buying this stuff and injecting it into patients and this is a real problem. “Don’t buy fake products.” We have great companies with great products. We need to embrace the new technology and treat patients with these new options.