The acne category is crowded, with various skin care brands and products ranging from OTC acne medications to facial treatments to prescription acne medications. Marketing these brands is complex and encompasses sales through both mass and luxury retailers, direct response, online, and by filling a doctor’s prescription.
Recording nearly 7% growth in 2014, the market for acne medications in the United States is largely made up of teens, but also a growing adult acne consumer group with the ability to pay higher price points to treat their acne, finds the recently published Acne Care Market in the United States report. Consumers view mass-market products as effective for treating mild acne; however, they also seek professional treatments and prescription drugs from physicians to treat severe to chronic acne conditions. According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), about 40 to 50 million Americans suffer from acne. With such a growing consumer market of both adults and teens suffering from acne, there is an increasing demand for acne products with interest across various market segments and product types, including both topical medications and skin care devices.
Product innovations for acne treatment play an important role and serve to reinvigorate and reshape the market, generating larger consumer interest. For example, in 2014, the beauty devices market witnessed the introduction of a LED therapy mask for treating acne, illuMask by La Lumiere. At under the $30.00 price point, this innovation has stolen the hearts of many consumers, as well as the established marketer Johnson & Johnson’s venture capital subsidiary, which invested $20 million in the brand. Similarly, in the professional skin care segment, innovations such as PCA Skin Retinol Acne Treatment by PCA Skin and Glytone Acne Foaming Cleanser by Pierre Fabre have seen sales surge.
Other significant game changers to the acne market would be the Rx-to-OTC switch of prescription acne medications making them available to consumers without a doctor’s prescription. To understand what drugs and ingredients may eventually make their way to the OTC market, Kline’s Rx-to-OTC Switch Pipelines: Competitive Assessment provides a thorough overview of this category by profiling various companies engaged in marketing prescription acne medications, including Actavis, Galderma Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline/Novartis, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Medications such as Aczone, Differin, Epiduo, Duac, Veltin, and Acanya are also analyzed. Topical prescription medications are often easier for marketers to gain FDA approval for OTC sales since they are not systemically absorbed like oral medications. The availability of one or more of these drugs without a prescription would bring innovation and improvements to existing OTC products to the market, further driving strong sales growth within the acne market. Galderma Laboratories recently announced an FDA Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for April 15, 2016, to evaluate the Rx-to-OTC switch of Epiduo for acne treatment.
In order to compete in such a multi-faceted market, the Acne Care Market in the United States, Beauty Devices: Global Market Analysis and Opportunities, Professional Skin Care Global Series, and Rx-to-OTC Switch Pipelines: Competitive Assessment reports will help you understand the competitive landscape, evaluate sales through various channels of distribution and brands, capitalize on new trends and developments, as well as forecast sales and growth and future Rx-to-OTC switches that will have significant impacts on the market.
