WASHINGTON (AFP) — The maker of the face-freezing injectable cosmetic Botox said Wednesday it is working on a new drug to lengthen eyelashes that it hopes to release next year, pending regulatory approval.
Allergan has finished clinical trials for the drug known as bimatoprost, a synthetic prostaglandin analog, and will soon apply for a new drug application with the US Food and Drug Administration, the company said in a statement.
The California-based company said that if approved, it expects to release the lash-grower on the US market in 2009, available by prescription.
The drug works by stimulating the glands at the base of the eyelashes. Allergan said its clinical trials showed that the drug, "when applied directly to the base of the eyelashes, results in significant eyelash growth."
Bimatoprost was first used by Allergan in its drug Lumigan, which can alleviate eye pressure caused by glaucoma. As a secondary effect, the drug was observed to make patients' eyelashes grow longer.
"This innovative product, if approved, could meet a significant and currently unmet demand in the medical aesthetic marketplace," said Scott Whitcup, vice president of research and development.
The company experienced the same revelation years ago with Botox, which uses botulinum toxin. The drug was initially approved in 1989 for treatment of muscular spasms around the eyes, and was seen to alleviate wrinkles as a side effect.
Allergan gained FDA approval to begin marketing Botox as a temporary cosmetic treatment for wrinkles in 2002, and since then it has flattened foreheads and smoothed the worry lines of the image-conscious worldwide, and raked in billions of dollars in sales.
The pharmaceutical maker hopes that consumers will not bat an eye at paying for a drug to grow longer lashes, forecasting that yearly sales worldwide could grab a 500-million-dollar chunk of the 3.7-billion-dollar global mascara market.
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