L'Oreal says weight loss drugs are impacting beauty and skin care sales

Beauty giant L'Oreal says the rise of weight loss drugs has affected beauty and skin care sales, as it designs products to specifically target some side effects of rapid weight loss.

The company's head Nicolas Hieronimus said the beauty market was proving resilient in a challenging global context, and that the use of GLP-1s was "a very important phenomenon for us".

He told an investor call that the rise in their use was "having an impact on beauty consumption and skin care consumption in particular".

L'Oreal, which owns other popular brands including Maybelline and La Roche-Posay, announced on Thursday that sales in the three months to September rose by 7.7%, above analyst expectations.

The use of GLP-1s has boomed in popularity in recent years, after drugs developed to treat diabetes such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro were found to also lead to significant weight loss because they supress the appetite.

While it is not caused by GLP-1 drugs directly, rapid weight loss can, for some people, come with a side effect of loose skin - including around the face.

Hieronimus said L'Oreal's brands SkinCeuticals and Kiehl's have products "that have been designed to work alongside and complement GLP-1 and its side effects on skin sagging" and other effects related to rapid weight loss.

L'Oreal has also moved further into the clinical aesthetic space, increasing its stake in dermatology firm Galderma to 20% last December.

Both companies have been testing products on GLP-1 users worried about loose skin in separate clinical trials, according to Reuters.

Galderma owns popular aesthetic products including Sculptra, an injectable aimed at stimulating collagen production, and Restylane, which is an injectable dermal filler.

Last year the aesthetic firm released a report into the rise of GLP-1 use and related concerns about changes in facial appearance.

Its own survey of weight loss medication users found the vast majority had noticed changes to their facial appearance after using those drugs.