Galderma to be the latest healthcare IPO

Swiss-based derma specialist Galderma, which was spun out of Nestlé in 2019, is in talks with international investors, and banks have been appointed for a potential US$22bn initial public offering in H1 2022, reports the UK Financial Times. According to CEO Flemming Ornskov, bumper growth owing in part to the pandemic has led to accelerated strategic planning.

He added: “Digitalisation and social media have underscored something that was always part of this [business] — the emotional part. The skin is the largest organ in the body and we look at it every day. We react to it. We look at people and their skin and we judge whether they are healthy or in a good mood … Many hours spent on screens have reinforced that.”

^{Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence}

Nicholas Hall commented: Galderma has been an outstanding success story since the company was sold by Nestlé in 2019 to three private equity companies led by EQT. We can’t rule out Galderma’s being taken over in a very lucrative acquisition, which was the fate of Shire, whose CEO, Flemming Ornskov, is now the CEO of Galderma. More likely there will be an IPO as a stepping-stone to a full listing, which makes perfect sense.

Private equity has been a significant player in the CHC market in the past ten years, but the question is always, “What next?” In some instances, private equity has sold on to a strategic buyer, as happened recently when HRA was acquired by Perrigo and The Bountiful Company was sold to Nestlé. Often private equity sells to another financial institution when it closes its fund after 5-7 years, but sometimes the asset is too big to sell on, and that is when an IPO is contemplated. Galderma is a case in point, and I’m sure the PE owners of Stada will be looking at this option very carefully.

With just over a week to go until our APAC e-Conference 2021, take the opportunity to register while spaces are still available! Alongside Nicholas and the team, a panel of industry experts will host sessions on key topics including digital trends, e-Commerce, consumer / patient centricity, plus much more! For further details, or to book your place, please contact elizabeth.bernos@NicholasHall.com without delay.

Google’s Derm Assist AI tool

Google is making a big move into healthcare with its announcement last week of a new AI skin care tool, Derm Assist, which is set to launch in Europe later this year. The new tool received a Class I medical device CE mark from European regulators, and is backed by landmark research that was published in Nature Medicine this time last year, showing how Google’s AI model was trained on more than 16,000 real-world dermatology cases and achieved accuracy on a par with US board-certified dermatologists. Another more recent study in JAMA Network indicated the AI tool also significantly improved diagnostic accuracy of non-derma specialists such as GPs.

In its blog announcement, Google said: “With our CE marked AI-powered dermatology assist tool, a web-based application that we aim to make available for early testing in the EU later this year, it’s easier to figure out what might be going on with your skin. Simply use your phone’s camera to take three images of the skin, hair or nail concern from different angles. You’ll then be asked questions about your skin type, how long you’ve had the issue and other symptoms that help the AI to narrow down the possibilities. The AI model analyses all of this information and draws from its knowledge of 288 conditions to give you a list of possible conditions that you can then research further. It’s not meant to be a replacement for diagnosis, but rather a good place to start.”

Google said that it sees billions of Google Searches every year related to skin, nail and hair issues, but that it remains difficult for people to describe what they see on their skin through words alone. According to the FT, Google cited studies showing that people only diagnose themselves correctly 13% of the time when it comes to skin conditions, presenting a huge opportunity for the Derm Assist tool. In the blog announcement, Google provided a visual walkthrough of how the tool will work on smartphones, starting with a prompt to submit a picture of your “skin concern” (examples include moles, birthmarks and rashes), with the visual information then analysed by the AI before being converted into a gallery of suggested conditions.

Google is keen to emphasis the inclusivity of its AI model, stating: “To make sure we’re building for everyone, our model accounts for factors like age, sex, race and skin types – from pale skin that does not tan to brown skin that rarely burns. We developed and fine-tuned our model with de-identified data encompassing around 65,000 images and case data of diagnosed skin conditions, millions of curated skin concern images and thousands of examples of healthy skin – all across different demographics.”

Review New Product Activity and the latest digital health developments across the industry with Innovation in CHC 2021, the latest report from CHC New Products Tracker. For more information, or to order your copy, please contact melissa.lee@NicholasHall.com

Focus on probiotics

Generating global turnover of US$4.4bn in the year to end-June 2020, probiotics & prebiotics remain a vital source of growth (+5.8%) in the worldwide consumer healthcare market, even though this trend has slowed in recent years. As Nicholas Hall said, for a category that has a CAGR of 10%, growth has further “eased back during 2020 as consumers moved their expenditure to supplements more specifically indicated for immunity“.

The global rate of new product development for probiotics was already beginning to slow prior to the pandemic. As our CHC New Products Tracker tool indicates, after several years of impressive growth in the number of probiotics coming to market every year up until 2018, there was a slight fall-off during 2019, and early indications for this year suggest that 2020 probiotics NPD activity will struggle to match the peak of 2018.

That’s why breakthroughs, such as last week’s news of a high-tech skin care microbiome partnership between L’Oréal and Dutch-based Micreos, are so welcome. As NHC Reports Managing Editor, Ian Crook, said, “Granting L’Oréal access to endolysin technology opens a world of opportunities in consumer skincare, since products that work in harmony with the skin microbiome form an underdeveloped niche presently. The partnership may well see new safe, effective, microbiome-friendly skincare products for a host of conditions”, such as eczema, acne and wound infections.

In addition, Nicholas Hall commented: “The probiotics market has been the fastest-growing prevention category in recent years, and I am often asked if it’s too late for new participants to join the market. Of course, it’s not. To quote the great Winston Churchill after the battle of El Alamein in 1942, ‘Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning‘.

“In the next few years, probiotics will be launched with a much wider range of indications; and new strains will be fermented with much more powerful efficacy, so powerful in some instances that many new products will become registered OTCs or even Rx. When we get back to normal – whatever normal is – I believe probiotics will forge ahead, with a best-case valuation of US$10bn within 10 years. Or even higher, assuming that new strains are brought to market with more demonstrable efficacy, targeting new indications including mental acuity and cardiovascular disease, and not forgetting skincare.“

We are pleased to announce that our next Hot Topics Webinar will focus on Probiotics. Hosted by Nicholas Hall and Jennifer Cooper on 2nd December, join them to explore both the commercial and scientific aspects of the category, as well as insights behind the science. To find out more, or to register, please contact elizabeth.bernos@NicholasHall.com.

Bidding starts for Nestle Skin Health

According to a Reuters report, private equity companies Cinven and Advent have teamed up to table a joint bid for Nestle Skin Health, which sources believe values the company at CHF7bn (US$7bn). It is reported that other private equity companies, including Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle, are likewise poised to make bids, while sources also say that Merz Pharma is interested and looking for private equity partners. 

In terms of the timeline, Nestle’s Board of Directors decided to explore strategic options for the skin health business in September 2018, after concluding that future growth opportunities lay increasingly outside the group’s strategic scope. Information memos on the sale, being run by Credit Suisse and Evercore, are expected to be sent by the end of this month and first-round bids are likely to be submitted in early March.

Nestle Skin Health divides its portfolio into two units – its range of largely Rx “medical solutions” marketed under the Galderma umbrella and its “consumer solutions”.  Differin Gel is one example of a Galderma Rx skin care medicine which has been switched to OTC status, gaining FDA approval in 2016 and launched in the US in early 2017. Despite being the first genuinely new allopathic treatment in the acne category, Differin sales only reached US$17mn in the brand’s first full year since switch, leading Nestle to revamp the brand in late 2017 with line extensions and packaging updates.

Nestle Skin Health’s key consumer brands are Cetaphil, Loceryl and Benzac, as well as the home treatment acne programme Proactiv. Cetaphil is its key OTC brand, according to DB6, thanks to its expansive range and wide skin care positioning, from eczema & psoriasis to acne and anti-itch. Cetaphil Dermacontrol and Cetaphil Restoraderm are both well-established in the US market, while Cetaphil also has a strong presence in Australia, Brazil, Germany and several Middle Eastern countries.

Nicholas Hall’s recent report, Dermatologicals: Trends, Innovations, Opportunities, analyses the Derma market from the global level down to individual category-by-category reviews. This key report also examines medical devices, cosmeceuticals and much, much more. It covers launch activity, innovations and emerging niches, spanning a range of categories, including eczema & psoriasis, cold sore treatments and wound care. To purchase your copy or to find out more, please contact melissa.lee@NicholasHall.com.

Eczema sufferers offered new hope

A new medication may improve signs and symptoms of severe eczema, according to the findings of two Phase III clinical trials published on 1st October in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A multi-institutional research team conducted the trials (SOLO1 and SOLO2) to test the effects of dupilumab (Regeneron / Sanofi) among 671 and 708 (respectively) participants with severe eczema.

For 14 weeks, participants received dupilumab (300mg/w), placebo or alternate weekly dupilumab and placebo. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants achieving a score of 0 or 1 (clear or almost clear) on the Investigator’s Global Assessment and a 2+ point reduction in that score from baseline at week 16.

The findings from SOLO1 and SOLO2 showed primary outcome occurred in 38% and 36% of participants who received dupilumab on alternate weeks and in 37% and 36% of those who received it weekly, vs 10% and 8% of placebo group, respectively.

Most patients who got the active drug, dupilumab, instead of a placebo reported that the itching began to wane within two weeks and was gone in a few months, as their skin began to clear. Nearly 40% of participants getting the drug saw all or almost all of their rash disappear.

The drug blocks two specific molecules of the immune system that are overproduced in patients with this and some other allergic diseases. The only side-effects were a slight increase in conjunctivitis, an inflammation of the outer membrane of the eye and swelling at the injection site.

Eczema & psoriasis is one of the categories covered in our round-up of OTC skin care treatments that are being published in the September and October editions of all four OTC INSIGHT titles.

US acne OTC market ready to pop

It’s amazing that the OTC treatment of acne has been limited to benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid treatments for more than three decades, but now US teens and adults suffering from the condition have new options in the form of a medical device and the pending launch of an Rx-to-OTC switch topical gel.

J&J has launched Neutrogena Light Therapy Acne Mask, said to harness the power of clinically proven technology to clear acne and allow skin to heal itself. The mask emits blue light to kill acne-causing bacteria, while its red light goes deeper to reduce inflammation. Use is simple, with people putting the mask on after cleansing their faces and pushing the button and letting it work for 10 minutes.

The US$40 mask includes 30 treatments, and subsequent purchases of the Light Mask Activator for US$17 means the mask can be charged for another 30 treatments. Although there are many light devices for acne treatment available on e-commerce sites like Amazon, the cachet of the trusted leading OTC acne brand, Neutrogena, on the label, and the far lower price point compared to other devices makes this product a game-changer.

Meanwhile, Galderma (Nestlé) is getting ready to launch Differin Gel (adapalene), the first retinoid acne treatment to be available as an OTC when the FDA approved its switch from Rx-only status last summer. The topical drug will dramatically change the complexion of retail shelves with a new ingredient for a skin condition that can have a major quality of life impact on millions of consumers. The Differin website promises that the new OTC will be on retail shelves soon.

This month, OTC INSIGHT North America will cover the acne remedies market in more detail as part 2 of its skin care report. To learn more about INA, click below:

Nicholas Hall’s OTC INSIGHT regional periodicals

OTCs In Action: Making Sunscreen Fun

This month, OTCs are in Action in South Africa, where ad agency FCB Cape Town made sun safety fun with a giant inflatable Nivea Sunslide that dispensed sunscreen. Equipped with goggles for protecting their eyes from the lotion, kids – and some adults – had a great time slipping on their sunscreen during the event.

FCB thought up the SunSlide campaign after learning that South Africa has the world’s highest rate of skin cancer, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. The massive water slide is equipped with hundreds of spray-jet portals and filled up with 50 litres (roughly 13 gallons) of SPF 50+ waterproof sunscreen to ensure all participants get equal coverage.

 

Last year, FCB Brazil was lauded for the Nivea doll campaign, which gave Brazilian children hands-on experience with sun-sensitive dolls that would turn lobster red if Nivea sunscreen was not applied in time.

Sunscreen ingredients are classified differently around the world – cosmetics in many countries, drugs in the US – but their efficacy in disease prevention is undisputed. Of course, that’s only if people use them – kudos to FCB for brilliant consumer behaviour tweaks!