HEALTH

Firm Wins OK to Market Tretinoin as Wrinkle Cream: The Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp. substance, sold under the brand name Retin-A, received Food & Drug Administration approval in 1971 to be sold as a treatment for severe acne. It soon won wide popularity as a wrinkle reducer and attracted a federal investigation into whether Ortho illegally marketed it for wrinkles. Ortho insisted it never did that, but last January it paid a $7.5-million fine for having shredded marketing documents sought in the inquiry. Last week, the FDA said Ortho has proved that tretinoin does reduce fine lines and brown spots and gave the company permission to sell a cream version under the brand name Renova. It will be available next month. Studies indicate that after 24 weeks of using Renova, 30% of users showed moderate improvement, 35% had minimal improvement and 35% saw no change.