By Kim Tae-jong
The head of a fast-growing international aesthetics products company said Korea has emerged as a key strategic market in Asia on its strong leadership in the medical field.
“We have built an organization in recent years that includes direct operations in 16 countries worldwide, primarily that has been in America and Europe. Now, South Korea represents the starting point for us in Asia,” Steve Basta, CEO of Merz Aesthetics, told The Korea Times.
The company is a subsidiary of Merz Pharma, a German pharmaceutical company with a 100-year history. The aesthetics firm has recently launched its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Seoul to promote two main aesthetics products here ㅡ calcium mineral filler, Radiesse, and the botulinum toxin, Xeomin.
“Our commitment to South Korea reflects the fact that South Korea is one of the three most important markets worldwide. We made a commitment, therefore, to build our regional headquarters here. Seoul is now the regional headquarters for our expansion in Asia,” he said.
According to recent statistics, there are 729 plastic surgery clinics with 1,242 plastic surgeons working nationwide. The cosmetic surgery market in Korea amounts to about 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion won) as of February in 2010.
But he admitted the competition can be fierce given the market-dominating competitors’ products such as American Botox.
“That was true when Hyundai and Toyota came into the States as well. Why would someone buy a Toyota not a General Motors? And things do change as people become more comfortable with new products,” he said.
He believes the combination of high quality products and high level of services to understand the needs of patients and physicians will win over time. For more practical support, the company now provides information on techniques through workshops and other methods that enable physicians to understand how to best achieve outcomes with each of their products.
“There is a significant amount of art, not just science, in how you provide aesthetics treatments and in how you best use aesthetics products to help patients achieve desired outcomes, (so we) also provide a level of training, a level of clinical scientific support with clinical studies that show exactly what can be achieved and how to achieve it. So we help physicians to provide excellent treatments,” he said.
In this regard, he is confident Korea is an optimal market for the products to be used in the best conditions and consequently produce the best outcomes.
“We’re fortunate that in South Korea, in particular, the level of expertise among physicians and aesthetics treatments is very high,” he said.