Treatment for double chins hits the market this fall

The double chin might be a fat profit center for pharmaceutical giant Allergan.

Scientists at Kythera Biopharmaceuticals worked for roughly a decade on Kybella, an injectable treatment for what you probably think of as your jowls. After the FDA approved the chin treatment in April 2015, Allergan bought Kythera for $2.1 billion in cash and it is now putting together a September ad blitz.

Kybella’s active ingredient, deoxycholic acid, is a form of bile that destroys fat cells in the digestive tract and, it turns out, in the chin.

The treatment involves 20 to 30 tiny injections by a doctor, who must avoid nerves and blood vessels under the jaw. Most patients require two to four sessions, each reportedly costing $1,500.

Kybella will increase Allergan’s position in the booming market for aesthetic treatment. The company sells Botox for eye wrinkles and Voluma as a dermal filler for cheekbones.

— Bloomberg

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