Valeant joins with Living Proof to create aesthetic products

Valeant Pharmaceuticals has partnered with a beauty company to create aesthetic products, beginning with a technology that reshapes the appearance of the skin.

Beauty company Living Proof announced its partnership with Valeant to create and distribute aesthetic dermatology products. The first product development will be based on Living Proof’s cross-linking polymer film technology, Strateris. All products will be sold via Valeant’s direct-to-physician channel.

“Healthy, young skin is excellent in elastic recoil, but older skin is too hard or doesn’t move,” R. Rox Anderson, M.D., Harvard Medical School, tells Dermatology Times. Dr. Anderson helped to develop Strateris. “The idea popped in my head that it may be possible to have material that restores that behavior of the skin.”

Strateris, invented by researchers and clinicians at Living Proof, can reshape the appearance of skin. It has been in development for more than 10 years, and tested on more than 600 women. It is a film-like substance that can be worn all day to reshape the texture and appearance of skin. The companies plan to officially launch the product at the annual American Academy of Dermatology meeting in March.

Strateris was developed with the goal of reducing the appearances of facial skin aging, including smoothing wrinkles and reducing bags under the eyes, according to Living Proof. The film itself is breathable, flexible and imperceptible, and features tunable core mechanical properties that may allow it to be used in a variety of aesthetic applications.

“We know from leading dermatologists that Strateris delivers a solution unlike anything in the market,” Living Proof CEO Jill Beraud tells Dermatology Times. “With the breakthrough of Strateris, we can apply invisible, wearable films to the skin on the face or body in order to reshape and compress the appearance of any lax, sagging skin. There are no needles, no downtime, no active to irritate the skin. And instead of waiting days or weeks for results, Strateris takes effect within one hour and can be worn all day.”

The product’s properties may be adjusted to allow it to serve as a drug delivery system, Dr. Anderson says. He says he is interested to see whether it could be tailored to work for patients with psoriasis or atopic dermatitis, and other skin diseases that improve when occluded.

“There is a good chance we could tool the product to provide a wearable barrier all day long,” he says.