Johnson & Johnson pulls the plug on "Evolence"

Johnson & Johnson has announced this week that it has decided to stop making and selling Evolence, an injectable soft-tissue filler.

Although Evolence has a good track record of safety and effectiveness, product sales apparently did not meet corporate expectations.

The facial filler gained approval from the FDA in June 2008, but its market introduction coincided with a rough time in the market for cosmetic medical products, due to the recession.

It's too bad - we liked this product and used it here. Evolence was useful for nasolabial creases and marionette lines, and was a good alternative to the hyaluronic acid family of fillers.

FDA approves "12 month" indication for Evolence

This week, the FDA approved a labelling change for the collagen-based filler Evolence, permitting what is known as a "12 month indication". In simple terms, this means the FDA was satisfied that the product has a significant effect on correcting moderate to deep facial wrinkles or nasolabial folds for 12 months. The original label indication was for six-month duration.

Evolence is the first collagen-based filler to get this "12 month indication", and you can bet that it will be featured extensively in future marketing.

What is not yet clear to me, however, is whether Evolence really performs significantly better than some of the other available filler agents (which currently have the older "6 month" label from the FDA) at 12 months after injection. There is data, for example, that Restylane also has significantly lasting effects well beyond their 6 month label.

I expect Allergan and Medicis (makers of Juvederm and Restylane respectively) will be submitting their data to the FDA, hoping for a similar 12-month approval, if only for competitive marketing purposes.

Special offers on injectables

Good news for those patients who are fans of Juvederm, Restylane, Evolence and Botox: the manufacturers seem to be trying to out-do each other with special offers, rebates and coupons. That means savings for you.

Here's some of the current special offers:

Botox cosmetic
- Schedule your initial botox treatment before February 28, 2009 and receive a $50 rebate coupon from Allergan. Make your follow-up treatment between May 1 and July 1, 2009 and receive a second $50 rebate.


Juvederm Ultra and Juvederm Ultra Plus injectable gel
- Schedule your Juvederm treatment before February 28, 2009, and receive a $100 rebate coupon from Allergan with your second syringe of Juvederm.


Evolence collagen dermal filler
- Schedule your Evolence treatment before December 31, 2009 and receive a $50 rebate coupon for each syringe used, up to $150.


Restylane and Perlane injectable gel
- Schedule your Restylane or Perlane treatments before February 28, 2009, and get the "buy-one, get the second half-off" special.

It seems like the time to get those wrinkles treated, doesn't it!

Hello, Evolence!

Here's a new twist on an "old friend" - collagen is back, in a new & improved way. Known as Evolence - and don't ask me how they come up with these names - it's an FDA-approved filler with a good track record for wrinkle correction after being on the market several years in Europe. It's now available in the USA.

Compared to the old collagen products (Zyderm & Zyplast), Evolence offers several advantages:

1) no need for a skin test prior to treatment to check for sensitivities or allergies, which happened in about 1% of people with the old product;

2) much longer-lasting correction. European studies show a duration of about 12 months; and

3) minimal bruising from the injection.

Overall, it looks promising, and we're now going to offer it in my practice, adding another option to the many other FDA-approved fillers we have.

What will be really interesting is a head-to-head comparison study comparing Evolence to some of the better hyaluronic gel fillers. This study is underway. "Which filler will reign supreme?"...we'll have to wait and see!