South Korea’s Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. has officially released its botulinum toxin Nabota on Wednesday local time in the United States three months after it obtained the marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Under local name Jeuveau, the cheaper Botox rival is marketed by its global partner Evolus Inc. that distributed test kits to more than 3,000 medical staffs on the same day in the U.S.

The release in the U.S. adds symbolic credential to the Daewoong name and further to the Korean beauty technology, the company said. It expects the first aesthetic-only neurotoxin would quickly penetrate into the world’s largest U.S. botulinum toxin market and help it become one of the top 50 global names.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical also is preparing an entry into the European market as the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) under European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended that the product be approved for the treatment of frown lines in April.

Europe together with the U.S. takes up more than 70 percent of the global botulinum toxin market, raising expectations that the company will soon see a rise in overall sales.

Meanwhile, the Korean drug company has kept up efforts to develop new products like xerophthalmia treatment.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical shares closed Thursday 3.97 percent lower at 169,500 won ($142.26).

By Kim Byung-ho and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]