Hugel accelerates European botox sales with Poland's approval

Hugel Inc., South Korea’s largest maker of botulinum toxin products used to treat overactive muscles and facial wrinkles, has won sales approval in Poland, accelerating its advance into the European market.

The company said on Friday it recently obtained marketing approval for its botox product Letybo from Poland’s medicinal authorities.

With the latest approval, Hugel has so far received the green light for the sale of Letybo in 10 European countries, including the UK, Germany and France, since it earlier this year earned the Heads of Medicines Agencies (HMA) recommendation for the authorization of the product in Europe.

Hugel has already begun selling Letybo in France and Austria, becoming the first Korean pharmaceutical company to sell a botox product in Europe.

Croma-Pharma GmbH, an Austria-based medical aesthetics company, is its sales partner in the US and European markets.

Hugel said it aims to get Letybo sales approval in 36 European countries by the end of next year.

“Europe is one of the world’s three largest botox markets along with China and the US. We’ll accelerate our advance into the European market,” said a Hugel official.

The company plans to take Letybo to the US market by the end of this year. It has already received a sales license in China.

The US, China and Europe account for 70% of the world’s botox market.

Established in 2001, Hugel controls about half the Korean botox market.

Write to Jae-young Han at jyhan@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.