Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7186

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Smith A.
Breast implant stocks surge: Allergan, Mentor stock prices shoot up following FDA approval of silicone breast implants.
CNN Money.com 2006 Nov 20
http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/20/news/companies/implants/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote

Abstract:

Stock prices for breast implant makers surged on Monday, following the FDA’s decision on Friday to approve silicone implants, ending a 14-year ban for most women.

In the first full day of trading since the ban was lifted, the stock price for Allergan (up $8.82 to $121.32, Charts) of Irvine, Calif., was up 8 percent in the late afternoon, while the price for Mentor Corp. (up $5.20 to $52.78, Charts) of Santa Barbara was up 10 percent.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of silicone on Friday after the markets closed, ending a ban that had been in place since 1992. In that time, silicone implants in the U.S. were available only for women in need of postmastectomy reconstructive surgery.

Allergan and Mentor sell silicone implants in Europe and South America and saline implants in the United States. With the FDA’s reapproval of silicone for the general population, the $350 million U.S. market for breast implants is expected to double.

Proponents of silicone believe it holds a better shape than saline, though its opponents say that it poses health risks to women.