Founder Profile: Keith A. Greathouse of DermAvance Pharmaceuticals Inc.

When Keith A. Greathouse, former executive vice president of the dermatology division of Sanofi-Aventis, started DermAvance Pharmaceuticals with two colleagues from Sanofi, he brought years of experience working with dermatologists and plastic surgeons on skincare products.

Founded in 2006, DermAvance specializes in bringing new esthetic-based skincare products to market and selling them to physicians, who in turn sell them to their patients.

Their latest product, an injectable implant for facial restoration which is now in clinical trials for FDA approval, has already been shown to have a dramatic effect on HIV patients with facial wasting.

DermAvance’s other products include a nanotechnology-based moisturizer, skin-lightening agents for people with hyperpigmentation, an anti-bruising product and a topical form of botox.

What inspired you to start DermAvance?

Right out of college [San Jose State University, B.S. in marketing], I started working for pharmaceutical companies; the last was Sanofi. Over the years, I developed relationships with dermatologists and plastic sugeons.

When Sanofi (which had gone through a number of mergers) closed down their facility in Berwyn, we had the option to either move to New Jersey or start our own venture. We decided to start our own company, DermAvance, as a privately-held, specialty esthetic dermatology company.

Our products produce some kind of change to the skin esthetically; [they include] injectable fillers, skin lightening agents and agents that beautify the skin. (Therapeutic dermatology focuses on conditions like psoriasis, acne or rosacea.)

We decided to do that because we saw that, as the Baby Boomers get older, they are looking for this, and they have the disposable income to spend on it. They may be 60, but they say, “I don’t feel 60.” They want these treatments.

A lot of dermatologists are moving into cosmetic treatments. It started with botox. Now the big thing is injectable fillers, which give you a “liquid facelift” without the surgical procedure.

Hyalogy, a nano-hyaluronic acid, was developed in Japan; we licensed that in 2006 as our first product.

How has the company grown since then?

We now have three different product lines. The Hyalogy line is sold in about 20 different forms, including creams, gels, hypo-allergenic and others.

Another product is Arnika Forte, which is for bruising. When doctors inject products, they sometimes hit vessels and they bruise. We sell them this product to use after botox or any injectable filler. Plastic sugeons use it before surgery and for five days after. It was used by Angelina Jolie’s doctor for her breast reconstruction.

We also have Hydro-Q for skin lightening and Vivelif, a topical botox.

We have outsourced our billing and shipping; so it’s still just the three of us. We’re waiting until we’re large enough to hire. We have about 10 people under contract to promote the products.

We lease space on the second floor of a local building, across the street from Paoli Hospital.

We have a concept of a product, and we pay a formulator to develop it. We look for products with unique technology, and we do the sales and marketing. Our products aren’t prescribed, but sold directly out of physicians’ offices. It’s cheaper for the patient that way.

Have you taken advantage of any resources to help get the company off the ground?

In 2009, we received a large investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA to help us develop our newest product for facial restoration and get it to market.

When we started, our connections with physicians allowed us to come quickly to market and get a positive cash flow. Initially, we had angel investors, but in 2008, when we were ready to seek more investors, the economy crashed. We managed to keep going through cash flow.

What has been your biggest challenge?

When starting a business — after you’ve worked in a large company and have had armies of people to help — you realize you have to do everything yourself. I sat down and read about how to file for trademarks. It takes time, and the hardest thing is learning how to do it correctly. It can cost around $1,000 to hire an attorney to do it for you, and when you’re a small company, you want to save every dime. We have a total of six or seven trademarks that have been issued for the company, and I filed all of them.

What’s next for DermAvance?

Our injectable facial implant — which was tried on patients with HIV — is being taken through clinical trials for FDA approval for cosmetic restoration, a process which will take about two years.

The benefit of this product in comparison with what’s on the market now is that it lasts about three times as long, from two to four years. When you inject it, the dissolvable polymer stimulates the patient’s own collagen, so their skin thickens.

On the HIV patients, it had a dramatic effect in about 90 days. They put four to six vials of the product in the patient over an eight-week period, and the patient looks the way they did before HIV.

We see this as a liquid facelift that dermatologists can inject into a patient to take about 15 years off the apparent age. It could step up our valuation 10 or 15 fold. When that happens, we will expand our operations and hire more people.

What’s the big differentiator for your products?

Our products have more science and technology behind them than what people could receive at the local drugstore.

The line we offer to doctors is backed by clinical studies to show that it actually works, and it’s unique enough that doctors want to carry the product. Most doctors don’t want to sell something to patients that they don’t believe in. They believe that 80 to 90 percent of the products out there don’t really work, and they don’t recommend them.

Writer: Susan L. Pena