Competition Heats Up for Skin Care Product Manufacturers
Monday, January 25th, 2010The anti-aging/skin care industry has always been competitive, but this battle for 
market share has been escalating recently and now the competition between makers of medical grade skin care products has taken an interesting turn. ZO Skin Health just filed suit against Obagi Medical Products (OMP), both companies being founded by the same leader in the industry, Dr. Zein Obagi.
According to the complaint filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, OMP allegedly interfered with the distribution of Dr. Obagi’s new line of anti-aging products that he developed for his current company, ZO Skin Health. Reports say the disagreement likely stems from a non-compete agreement between the two parties, and whether that agreement should stop ZO Skin Health from distributing its new line of anti-aging products directly to consumers over the internet. OMP denies any wrongful conduct in the matter, and says it will vigorously defend the suit.
As the demand for anti-aging skin care products has increased over the last decade, so has the competition within that market. Between 2006 and 2008, U.S. sales alone rose 13% to 1.6 billion dollars, and the trend shows no sign of weakening as baby-boomers take advantage of advances in skin care science to address the effects of aging on their appearance.
