FDA Approves Another Breast Implant

(RTTNews) - Women undergoing reconstruction, augmentation or revision surgery now have another breast shaping option for a customized result as the FDA has approved another breast implant from the NATRELLE INSPIRA line of Allergan.

The new breat implant to receive a thumbs up from the FDA is NATRELLE INSPIRA round gel-filled textured breast implants. The smooth version of the NATRELLE INSPIRA round gel-filled breast implants was approved by FDA in February 2015.

NATRELLE INSPIRA breast implants are said to be fuller than Allergan's round, gel-filled breast implants currently available in the U.S.

Allergan was acquired by Actavis plc (ACT) for about $70.5 billion in cash and equity in a transaction, which was completed in March of this year. Actavis intends to adopt a new global name - Allergan - pending shareholder approval in 2015.

There are two types of FDA-approved breast implants namely, saline-filled and silicone gel-filled.

A woman must be at least 18 years old to be eligible for saline-filled breast implants, and should be 22 years or older to be eligible for silicone gel-filled breast implants.

Apart from Allergan, privately-held Mentor Corp. and Sientra Inc. (SIEN), which went public as recently as October 29, 2014, are the other manufacturers who market FDA approved silicone gel breast implants.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of breast augmentation procedures performed in the U.S. in 2014 was 286,254, down 1%.