SiliconBeat

BioForm, the San Mateo provider of “injectable dermal filler,” was the second local “medical aesthetics” company in the last week to register plans to sell its shares to the public. (Last Thursday Reliant Technologies of Mountain View, a maker of laser-based “skin-rejuvenation” systems, estimated that it would raise $95 million in its initial public offering.)

Like Reliant, BioForm has yet to turn a profit but its sales doubled in fiscal 2007 to $47.4 million, which coincidentally is almost equal to its accumulated losses through June 30.

The company says it had about $17.6 in cash on hand as of the end of June and burned through about $12.4 in fiscal 2007.

BioForm’s S-1 filing Monday estimated it would raise $115 million in its offer being co-managed by JPMorgan and Piper Jaffrey, which is also underwriting Reliant’s offer.

The potential market for these companies’ products is growing. (See my mug shot, for instance.) The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, or ASAPS (now that’s a fitting acronym for our age) reports that in 2006, folks spent about $12.2 billion
on procedures to improve their looks.

BioForm’s core product is a Radiesse, an “injectable dermal filler designed to provide long-lasting, cost-effective and safe aesthetic improvement for patients.” (Long-lasting, by the way, is counted in months for this kind of product, as in 12.) In five years the company has shipped more than 500,000 syringes worldwide.

Last year the company introduced a larger volume syringe and lowered the list price of Radiesse from $500 per unit to $295.

The company has also licensed a treatment for varicose veins not currently approved for use in the U.S., which is undergoing Phase III clinical tests; and a surgical adhesive called
Bio Glue, which the company says “may offer an attractive alternative to conventional fixation methods, which involve drilling into the skull for fixation, either with resorbable screws, posts or other suspension methods.”