Tapping a full-bodied market

If everything at SmoothShapes Inc. works according to plan, the only thing getting fat will be the company's coffers.

Angling for a piece of a booming market for cosmetic improvement, the Merrimack, N.H., company will soon debut the SmoothShapes 100, a device combining laser technology and massage therapy with the lofty claim of literally melting away cellulite from the hips, legs, and buttocks.

Plastic surgeons and other physicians attending trade shows in Texas and New York City will get their first look at the SmoothShapes 100 next month. Similar presentations will be made at a medical conference in Vienna in May. Company officials said they expect to begin deliveries to clinics this spring and have already received commitments for purchase of the $69,000 device from at least two local doctors.

They're also confident that patients -- especially women, who spend an estimated $3 billion each year on treatments to eradicate cellulite -- will generate sufficient demand for the SmoothShapes procedure to make the company a financial success.

"We think this is a very significant and robust market," said Nancy Briefs, who joined the company, previously known as Biocellulase Inc., as its chief executive in October. "Women want something that works and are willing to pay for it when it does."

Nearly all adult females display some evidence of cellulite, usually as small dimples or lumps of fat just below the top layer of the skin. It's not a life-threatening condition, but it can be an annoyance -- or worse -- for many women.

And despite a slew of contenders, cellulite has proven a stubborn opponent to beat. Topical applications like creams and lotions generally do not penetrate deep enough into the skin to have much real effect, while more invasive procedures such as liposuction are better suited for removing fat accumulating in deeper body cavities.

The results for other techniques, such as mesotherapy -- which involves injecting plant extracts, vitamins, or homeopathic compounds into problem areas -- and a massage technique known as endermologie, which uses rollers and suction to bust up fat, are likewise inconclusive.

"You'd have a hard time finding anybody who went poor selling cellulite treatments," said Dr. Mathew Avram, director of the Dermatology, Laser and Cosmetic Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "There's a tremendous demand for these products, even though there hasn't been a lot of efficacy yet supporting their use."

But Briefs said the SmoothShapes 100 succeeds where other anti cellulite treatments have not by using infrared light to attack the small nodules of fat. The device consists of an array of light-emitting diodes set to a specific wavelength (about 900 nanometers) that is absorbed by fat cells, causing them to heat up and liquefy. At that point, an automated massager takes over, helping steer the fluid toward lymphatic meridians, which act as the body's natural drainage network.

A separate bank of laser diodes on the SmoothShapes 100 emit s light at a slightly shorter frequency (650 nm) and is intended to encourage small pores in cells to open, assisting the clean up process, Briefs said.

The possible benefits of the procedure appear encouraging. Of 74 patients participating in multi center tests conducted by the company last year, 60 displayed at least some reduction in the amount of cellulite in their legs. The tests used one leg as a control while the other leg received the laser treatments; patients did not know which leg received the laser therapy.

According to Dr. Elliott Lach, a plastic surgeon with a practice in Southborough who helped develop and patent the device, cellulite levels in the patients' legs were measured before and after the tests using magnetic resonance imaging. "We wanted to do our trials in a way that we or anybody else doing them could easily reproduce them," Lach said.

Treating cellulite with lasers and related phototherapies has been a hot topic in recent years. Researchers at Mass. General, for example, caused a stir last year when they reported that fat cells treated with a 1,210-nanometer laser absorbed twice as much energy as regular skin cells, causing cellulite to melt.

A few other private companies are pursuing similar techniques to fight cellulite. Burlington-based Palomar Medical Technologies in November patented its own laser-based treatment to remove cellulite, building on its current expertise with hair and tattoo removal systems. An Israeli company, Syneron Medical, already is on the market with its device, VelaSmooth, which uses radio waves rather than light energy to bust up fat.

"It's a noisy market," said Mark Wan, founding partner at Three Arch Partners, a Silicon Valley venture-capital firm that recently invested $14.5 million to acquire a 30 percent stake in SmoothShapes. "But we obviously think they have a unique technology and a good chance of breaking through all that noise. From there, their challenge will be execution."

The company this month finalized a manufacturing and distribution agreement with a Welsh company, Chromo genex Ltd. The deal calls for Chromogenex to produce at least 2,000 of the SmoothShapes devices over the next two years, and it will also handle distribution in the European Union, which was expected to give its final approval authorizing sales this week.

Medical regulators cleared the SmoothShapes 100 for US sales last July.

Based on Syneron company records, Briefs estimated sales for the competing VelaSmooth device were close to $20 million during its first year on the market. She said matching those revenues makes for a nice, interim goal for her company, although she cautioned that Syneron had the advantage of an established sales team in place.

"We're just starting to recruit a sales force," said Briefs. "It might take us a little longer to get to those levels."