Merz Aesthetics Korea marked the 20th anniversary of the global launch of its anti-wrinkle drug Xeomin on Wednesday in Seoul and used the event to underscore a safety message centered on “pure toxin” and dose discipline to reduce neutralizing antibody formation.

German immunologist Michael Martin told reporters that only preparations containing the active neurotoxin without complexing proteins, inactive neurotoxins or other impurities qualify as “highly purified pure toxin.” 

He said a global expert panel, ASCEND (Aesthetic Council for Ethical use of Neurotoxin Delivery), agreed clinicians should choose highly purified products with low resistance risk and use the minimum effective dose at appropriate intervals to help prevent resistance. Xeomin is a botulinum toxin type A product.

Jürgen Frevert, the developer of Xeomin, described Merz’s manufacturing as removing complexing proteins that can trigger antibody formation and formulating only the 150 kDa active neurotoxin with human serum albumin and sucrose.

“Xeomin is produced using Merz purification and biotech processes cleared by the U.S. FDA,” he said, adding that “pure toxin” and “resistance prevention” are now core buying criteria for patients and providers.

On the commercial side, Merz said Xeomin has approvals in 81 countries and more than 35 million vials supplied, based on company data. In Korea, the brand has led import volumes for six straight years since 2018, according to the company.