Prepared remarks
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Evolus Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded and webcast live. All participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a Q&A session. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nareg Sagherian, Vice President and Head of Global Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Welcome to everyone joining us on today's call to review Evolus' second quarter financial results. Our second quarter press release is now available on the Investor Relations section of our website at evolus.com. Joining me on today's call are David Moatazedi, President and Chief Executive Officer; Rui Avelar, Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D; and Tatjana Mitchell, Chief Financial Officer. Today's call will include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties outlined in our earnings press release and SEC filings. These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions, and we undertake no obligation to update them. Additionally, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. These measures should be considered in addition to and not as a substitute for our GAAP results. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is included in today's earnings release. As a reminder, our earnings release and SEC filings are available on the SEC's website and on our Investor Relations website. Following the conclusion of today's call, a replay will be available on our website at investors.evolus.com. With that, I will turn the call over to our CEO, David Moatazedi.
Thank you, Nareg, and good afternoon, everyone. The second quarter represents a meaningful inflection point for Evolus. We delivered 21% revenue growth and generated our third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. We expanded our international footprint with the launch of Estyme in Europe, and announced two strategic licensing agreements that further strengthen our long-term portfolio. Importantly, Evolus gained significant share across the U.S. injectable aesthetics market during the quarter, underscoring the growing momentum of our portfolio strategy across both neurotoxins and hyaluronic acid gels. Reflecting the strength of our first half performance, we also raised our full year 2026 financial outlook. As we enter the second half of the year, we are well positioned to build on this momentum. Consumer demand continued to strengthen during the quarter. Treatment intervals remained stable and practitioners reported healthy patient traffic and engagement.
We estimate the U.S. neurotoxin market grew at a faster-than-expected mid single-digit growth rate during the quarter, while the hyaluronic acid gel market returned to positive growth following two consecutive years of declines. Consumers continue to prioritize aesthetic treatments, and practices remain focused on products that deliver predictable clinical outcomes and high patient satisfaction. Against this improving backdrop, we continue to meaningfully outpace the market through disciplined commercial execution, which led to market share gains across our portfolio. That execution is evident through our business performance. Global toxin revenue was $75 million during the quarter, driven by double-digit toxin growth across both the United States and our international markets. As our portfolio continues to expand, we are seeing customers increasingly adopt our products within their practices.
Our portfolio focus is delivering particularly strong results among accounts participating in our Evolus portfolio growth bundle. In the first six months since we debuted the program, approximately 70% of these customers purchased Evolysse compared with approximately 25% penetration of Evolysse across our overall customer base. Jeuveau continues to strengthen its competitive position through growing customer loyalty and market share gains, while Evolysse is following the same disciplined commercialization strategy that made Jeuveau successful. During the quarter, Evolysse revenue increased by more than $2 million sequentially, reflecting increased customer penetration, reorder rates, and utilization within existing accounts. Together, these trends reinforce our confidence that our portfolio focus is gaining traction, enabling us to increase share across both neurotoxins and injectable hyaluronic acid gels, while deepening customer relationships and expanding our share of wallet.
As a result of the continued strength across our portfolio, we remain on track for both Evolysse and our international business to each contribute more than 10% of total company revenue this year. A key milestone in our evolution is our recent partnership with IPSY to exclusively develop and commercialize ProFuelo in the United States. ProFuelo is an asset we have been actively pursuing because it represents a gold standard in the rapidly emerging skin quality category. With the addition of ProFuelo, Evolus is expanding into a new third injectable aesthetics vertical of skin quality, further diversifying our differentiated portfolio and reinforcing our strategy of building a comprehensive injectable platform. ProFuelo defines the skin quality category globally and is widely recognized as a market-leading brand for skin quality in Europe, with no directly comparable product currently available in the United States.
Similar to Jeuveau, we will own the U.S. regulatory filings and lead the clinical development and commercialization strategy for ProFuelo, creating long-term value around the asset which has the potential to generate more than $100 million in peak annual revenue. More broadly, our partnerships with companies such as IPSY, Symatese, and Daewoong demonstrate that leading global innovators increasingly view Evolus as a partner of choice to develop and commercialize quality aesthetic products. Our proven execution, deep customer relationships, and expanding global platform position us to continue attracting high-quality assets from world-class partners as we build the next generation of injectable aesthetics. Our international business is also becoming an increasingly important contributor to our long-term strategy. During the quarter, we successfully launched the Estyme collection of injectable hyaluronic acid gels in Europe, where early customer response has been very encouraging.
We also announced the expansion of our relationship with Symatese to include Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Strategically, this is an important milestone, as we now hold exclusive rights to commercialize our injectable hyaluronic acid gel portfolio in every market where we maintain rights for Nuceiva, while expanding our global addressable market by approximately $200 million annually. The combination of a broader portfolio and expanded geographical footprint make our international business an increasingly meaningful contributor to our long-term growth and revenue outlook. While we continue to invest in our long-term growth strategy, we remain disciplined in our financial execution. Our third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA demonstrates that we can deliver profitable growth while funding the strategic initiatives that will drive the next phase of our evolution. Through the first six months of the year, we delivered 14% revenue growth, ahead of the pace implied in our original guidance, giving us the confidence to raise our full year 2026 financial outlook.
Our results this quarter reflect the strength of our expanding portfolio, the effectiveness of our commercial strategy, and the operating discipline of our team in executing against our long-term objectives. With that, I would like to now turn the call over to Rui Avelar.
Thank you, David. Evolus is committed to building a best-in-class aesthetic portfolio. We started with Jeuveau, a neurotoxin manufactured under the Hi-Pure manufacturing process supported by Phase 3 data against the industry standard that was subsequently validated by an independent study demonstrating that Jeuveau had a fast onset, the highest peak effect, and the longest duration among the toxins tested. Then we brought in Evolysse, a hyaluronic acid injectable manufactured with a novel Cold-X cross-linking technology. The pivotal registration studies demonstrated both non-inferiority and statistical superiority against an established comparator. The first two products, I believe Form and Smooth, have launched. Sculpt, our premium mid-face injectable, has an anticipated approval in the fourth quarter and is expected to commercially launch in 2027. Evolysse Lips is on track to be submitted to the FDA by the end of this year with an anticipated launch in 2028.
Recently, we further expanded our portfolio and are very excited about the partnership with IPSY, the developer of ProFuelo. IPSY is a private Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company founded in 1950 and operates across 10 therapeutic areas in over 90 countries worldwide. ProFuelo is made of a unique blend of high and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid, and instead of the traditional cross-linking, it undergoes a patented thermal production process to create a hybrid matrix designed to address skin quality. With age, the components of skin break down and become less dynamic. ProFuelo helps rebuild the quality of the skin. It stimulates extracellular remodeling, improves the elasticity of the skin and its supporting function by stimulating fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Evolus will lead the U.S. clinical and regulatory approval process and then own the PMA. At this time, we anticipate approval around 2030 and we will provide updates as the program progresses.
With the addition of ProFuelo, we continue to expand our portfolio and expect to introduce three new products over the next four years. Lastly, as David mentioned, we have further expanded our geographical reach with Estyme, and now also have Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Incorporating the registration timelines, we expect to launch in these regions in 2028. With that, I will turn the call over to Tatjana.
Thank you, Rui. The second quarter represented another strong step forward in the execution of our financial strategy. As I approach one year as CFO, I am proud of the foundation we have set and our proven ability to deliver double-digit revenue growth across the portfolio, while driving significant operating leverage and profitability. In the second quarter, we delivered revenue growth above 20%, achieved our third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, and strengthened our confidence in the outlook for the remainder of the year. We achieved these results while continuing to invest in customer experience and education, consumer rewards, and the launch of the Estyme portfolio in Europe. Beginning with revenue, our global net revenue for the second quarter was $84.1 million, representing an increase of 21% compared to the prior year. This performance reflects continued strength across our diversified portfolio, with global toxin revenue of $75.2 million and injectable hyaluronic acid gel revenue of $8.9 million.
As expected, the recent launch of Estyme in Europe contributed modestly during the second quarter. From a geographic standpoint, we continue to see balanced performance across both our U.S. and international business. Jeuveau and Nuceiva delivered another quarter of healthy growth, supported by improving procedure volumes and continued market share gains, while Evolysse continued to build momentum through increasing customer adoption and reorder behavior. Turning to gross margin, reported gross margin for the second quarter was 68%, while adjusted gross margin, which excludes the amortization of intangibles, was 69%. Gross margin benefited by approximately 120 basis points from a tariff refund recognized during the quarter. Adjusting for the tariff refund, our first half gross margin remained flat year over year, reflecting a modest improvement in U.S. gross margin that was offset by a higher mix of our international business.
Moving to operating expenses, GAAP operating expenses for the second quarter were $61.7 million compared to $55.7 million in the first quarter. Non-GAAP operating expenses for the second quarter were $53.3 million compared to $49.1 million in the first quarter. As expected, operating expenses increased sequentially from the first quarter as we continue to invest in customer education, marketing programs, and international portfolio expansion. These investments remain very disciplined, allowing us to efficiently scale the business while maintaining our core profitability objectives. As a reminder, non-GAAP operating expenses exclude stock-based compensation, revaluation of the contingent royalty obligation, and depreciation and amortization. Within operating expenses, SG&A expenses for the second quarter were $57.1 million compared to $52 million in the first quarter. This included $5.2 million of non-cash stock-based compensation, similar to the prior quarter.
In the second quarter, our adjusted EBITDA improved by $12.6 million compared to the prior year period, resulting in positive adjusted EBITDA of $4.7 million and marking our third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. As we have discussed, our commercial infrastructure was intentionally built to support a broader portfolio. As additional products contribute to revenue, we expect that scalability to become increasingly evident through improving profitability. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with $45.2 million in cash equivalents compared to $49.8 million at the end of the first quarter. Cash used during the quarter primarily reflected interest expense and planned capital expenditure investments. We believe that our cash position, profitability trajectory, and the capacity under our revolving credit facility provide ample financial flexibility to support our commercial priorities, invest in portfolio expansion, and execute on our long-term growth strategy.
We continue to have access to $100 million of additional liquidity under our Pharmacon debt facility, which is intended for potential transformative business investment. As we have said previously, we remain funded to profitability and do not anticipate the need for additional equity financing. Another important point regarding the balance sheet: while our position on the announced tariffs remains unchanged, as a prudent measure, we expect to bring approximately one year's worth of Hugel inventory into the U.S. We will effectively be relocating Hugel's safety stock from South Korea to the U.S. This will be reflected as an increase in inventory and an increase in accounts payable on our balance sheet but will not impact our cash use given the negotiated payment terms. Turning now to guidance, our first half performance provides us with increased confidence in the outlook of the business. As a result, we are updating our full year 2026 financial outlook.
Through the first six months of 2026, we delivered 14% year-over-year growth in revenue, exceeding the pace implied by our original full year outlook. We are raising the lower end of our revenue guidance to $330 million while maintaining the upper end of $337 million, effectively raising the midpoint of our guidance range to $333.5 million. We are also raising our full year adjusted gross profit margin guidance to between 67.0% to 67.5%. This reflects our first half performance and confidence in the margin trajectory of the business. We are narrowing our non-GAAP operating expense guidance range to between $212 million to $216 million. This reflects our continued disciplined approach to expense management while incorporating incremental strategic investments, including upfront payments for the recently announced expansion of our Estyme partnership into Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Our previously announced partnership with IPSY reflects the same disciplined, capital-efficient approach to business development, with no upfront or milestone payments. As a result, we are reaffirming our low-to-mid single-digit adjusted EBITDA margin outlook for the full year 2026. Finally, I would like to emphasize that our long-term financial framework remains unchanged. We continue to believe Evolus is well positioned to achieve $450 million to $500 million in annual revenue and 13% to 15% adjusted EBITDA margin in 2028. The progress we have demonstrated over the past three quarters reinforces our confidence that we are on track to achieve these long-term objectives. With that, I will turn it back to David for closing remarks.
Thank you, Tatjana. As you heard today, Evolus is on track to deliver our seventh consecutive year of above-market performance with double-digit top-line growth, and we have continued to gain market share for both Jeuveau and Evolysse. I am particularly pleased with the debut and early success of our portfolio growth bundle, which resulted in customers committing more of their injectable business to Evolus and driving the highest overall growth across our customer base. Over the past 18 months, we have transformed Evolus into a diversified injectable aesthetics company with three distinct growth verticals. We began by establishing Jeuveau, one of the fastest growing neurotoxin brands in the market, continued that momentum with the launch of Evolysse, the first new injectable hyaluronic acid gel in more than a decade, and most recently entered the skin quality space with ProFuelo. At the same time, we have built a commercial platform that is increasingly scalable, increasingly diversified, and increasingly attractive to both customers and strategic partners.
Before I close, I want to thank our employees for their relentless focus on execution. I also want to thank our customers for their continued trust in Evolus, our strategic partners for their collaboration, and lastly, shareholders for their ongoing confidence in Evolus. Our progress this quarter reflects what we can accomplish when we work together with a shared commitment to innovation, operational excellence, and delivering long-term value. Operator, we may now begin the Q&A.
Questions and answers
Thank you. Our first question is from Annabel Samimy of Stifel. Please proceed.
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Congratulations on a good quarter. I am really interested in your new licensing of ProFuelo for skin quality. As usual, U.S. is catching up with international markets. I want to understand this product a little better. What is it going to require clinically to get on the market here? Do you still expect to maintain profitability with the additional R&D here? And second, would you view this maybe, I guess, a little bit more like a filler light to perhaps expand a category or be a sort of gateway into fillers? Or is this a completely different market, different price point, different commitment altogether?
Great, Annabel, thanks for the questions. I will have Rui comment on the clinical development and then Tatjana to comment on the expense associated with ProFuelo. I will open with this: last weekend, we had an advisory board meeting with a number of key customers from both the U.S. and international markets. Interestingly, the U.S. doctors were all very well aware of ProFuelo. They have heard of this brand because it is well known as the gold standard for skin quality. And the international doctors made a simple comment: you use toxins to relax muscle, you use our injectable hyaluronic acid gels, Evolysse, to replace lost volume in the tissue, and products like ProFuelo are used more like a moisturizer on the skin's surface. So it is not adding volume; it is changing the overall texture of the skin. So I will let Rui talk a little bit more about clinical development and what we will be going through.
Sure. Maybe I will touch on what David mentioned. It is a different product. When we think about the mechanism of action, toxins take up space in muscle, that is why they are regulated differently. ProFuelo uses a different way of actually creating a gel. As I mentioned, it does not undergo traditional cross-linking; it has a special thermal process and you end up with light hydrogen bonds. What it does is it hydrates the skin internally. So what you do is you actually put it in, and if you look at kind of the device file from Europe, you can actually see where the injection points correlate to where the skin quality is deteriorating. The skin turgor is low, there is more redundancy and looseness, and even the skin tone is lower. Those are all components of skin quality and this is what this works on. Mechanistically, it works effectively by hydrating the skin from within. In terms of the process and how we get it through, this will be a full PMA. It is considered a Class III device and it will go through a full PMA process, which is why we are tying that into the timelines and talking about 2030 at this time. I think I have captured most of your components, Annabel.
Go ahead.
I will just add on the question around does this impact profitability? And the short answer is no. Rui and his team have a great track record and will be supporting the clinical development and regulatory approval of this product, and this is already contemplated in our guidance for adjusted EBITDA for 2026 of 13% to 15%.
And if I can just ask a follow-up. Can you talk about when you— I heard in your comments how you are feeling about the state of the filler market? It does look like we have got a bit of a tale of two cities here with, I guess, one player seeing declines and other players seeing stabilization. What are you seeing as far as interest level and, I guess, being a new player on the market, do you feel like you are reframing the conversation around fillers right now? And any impact that you are seeing yet from GLP-1s? I know that Galderma is starting to talk about it. So how are you seeing that play out in the market?
Yes, this is David. Overall, we are hearing improving conditions from clinicians all around the market. Specifically, in our case, as you saw the step up in Q2, part of that was driven by our ability to talk about these weight-loss patients and we have incorporated that into our co-branded media and we saw a lot of interest from accounts that want to capitalize on what they are seeing, which is the increasing number of GLP-1 patients coming into their clinics and the ability to advertise to that segment with Evolysse and the mention of weight loss that we currently have in our patient label. We have been able to capitalize on it. We do believe it is the very early innings of both the market recovery and that GLP-1 patient entering clinics, but that is exactly where these practices are focused. That is something we will continue to take advantage of as we get into the back half of the year, as that is a unique differentiation in the Evolysse line from a consumer standpoint. Great. Thank you.
Our next question is from Marc Goodman with Leerink Partners. Please proceed.
Yes. One additional question on ProFuelo. Is it safe to use that product at the same time as a filler and at the same time as Jeuveau? I am just wondering if you need studies to kind of show that it is safe, or is it just going to be well understood by the doctors? And then second question is just on the performance of the toxin market throughout the quarter. Was it improving throughout the quarter and is July a continuation of that improvement? Was it kind of steady throughout? I am just trying to get a sense of what has been going on this year. I think you said in the first quarter you thought the market grew low to mid and now you are saying the second quarter was mid. So it does feel like it is getting better as time goes on. Just wondering if you are seeing that improvement into July as well. Thanks.
Hi, Marc. I will start with your question. Yes. When you look at where this is used, they are used simultaneously with the other products. This product is put in more superficially in the skin. If you think about how it works, a toxin usually goes into a muscle, so it is a different layer. And generally when you are using an injectable and you are trying to take up space for a wrinkle or fold, that is usually put in a different plane. So we see them used quite similarly. Part of the reason why there is a lot of excitement here in the U.S., as we had our advisory board, is they really like the concept of the cadence of this product. It brings patients in with another reason to get a treatment and then it helps them with managing the other treatments such as injectables and toxins. So it is a very synergistic treatment for all the products that we currently offer.
That is right. As a matter of fact, when we had conversations with the team at ProFuelo, they did not view hyaluronic acid injectable products as competitors. They very much viewed them as complementary in the European market and had a lot of success with that. And then to your second question, Marc, we saw sequential improvement in the market. You see that reflected in both toxin procedures and HAs returning to positive growth. Underneath that, we are also seeing segments of the consumer that are strengthening, and that younger demographic—the millennial and Gen Z segments—are spending more on beauty and healthcare, and we do believe that contributes. We expect that to carry forward into the back half of the year, so we have no reason to believe that the momentum will not continue, and that is reflected in the guidance that we have provided. Thanks.
Our next question is from Navann Ty with BNP Paribas Asset Management. Please proceed.
Hi. Question on your market commentary, which sounded more positive than the market leaders. Can you clarify whether the comments are U.S. or global for toxins and fillers? And if possible, can you let us know your current U.S. and global market shares in toxins and fillers, and what drove the significant share gains? Thank you.
Sure. As far as the two markets, we have seen Europe over the past several years not experience the same slowdown that parts of the U.S. saw, and coming into this year we continue to see a healthy market environment in Europe. HAs, of course, in both the U.S. and Europe did see a dip, and in both markets we are seeing an improvement. It is hard for us to precisely gauge whether Europe is in positive growth or in some stage of improvement, but it is consistently the same messaging that we hear back from clinicians—that they see the market strengthening off several years of being depressed. So we feel good that these markets are moving roughly in parallel. As it relates to shares, we entered the year with roughly mid-teens market share. We expect to continue in that mid-teens range; it is hard to pin a share on an exact quarter, but clearly our share is strengthening. We see that in the numbers reflected: year-to-date, our business is growing at a healthy double-digit clip in the U.S., and the same is the case on the filler side.
In Europe, on the toxin side, we have just reestablished a position in a couple of major markets, so it is too early for us to give a definitive view on share. In the U.K., which is our most established market, this year we are getting really close to double-digit market share, which is an important metric for us that we continue to track because it was the lead market to enter inside of Europe. That continues to be a strong market for us and we are seeing the markets that followed after the U.K. continue to strengthen in terms of their revenue, and that is why international business has been such an important growth driver for us. Thank you.
Our next question is from Douglas Tsao with H.C. Wainwright. Please proceed.
Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. Maybe help us understand how you think the Evolysse line will grow. We have seen some nice sequential growth on a percent basis, but it is still off a relatively smaller base. Given some macro dynamics, I know you guided to Evolysse contributing 10% to 12% of total revenues for this year. Do you see 2027 as being a more important year just with the additions of new products to the portfolio?
Yes, Douglas. I think the way we look at Evolysse is it is a very important part of building out our portfolio strategy. We competed as a single-product company up until the second quarter of last year for six consecutive years and established a meaningful presence in the aesthetic space on that single product. Evolysse is clearly opening the door for us to go into clinics and have a deeper partnership with them. As a matter of fact, when we look at accounts that purchase both Jeuveau and Evolysse together, they are purchasing 2.5x greater volume year-to-date than accounts that are only purchasing one product. So clearly, Evolysse is an important next stage in telling the portfolio story. The announcement of ProFuelo has added another dimension to the conversations we are having with clinicians because that signals even further investment into the category and developing new innovation. Between now and ProFuelo, as you know, we have the upcoming approval of Sculpt, which we believe is a flagship product in that line; it positions us to compete against the broader portfolios of the larger established players.
In addition, the following year we expect to introduce the Lips product. When I look at our pipeline over the next four years, we are going to introduce three more new products. I am really excited about what we are going to bring customers over the coming years. But more importantly, we have to execute in the near term, and I think the operating leverage we have been able to demonstrate without compromising growth is the reason why we have been able to grow double digits in both the U.S. and international markets.
And David, just as a follow-up on ProFuelo. You had spoken for some time about being interested in biostimulators and I guess ProFuelo is kind of a biostimulator. Do you see that as covering that interest, or do you think you might still be looking at the biostimulator space as something interesting from a product standpoint? Are there other products that could be complementary to ProFuelo?
I will jump in on that, Douglas. What we have been talking about on the R&D and business development front are three big categories. One was skin quality, which is ProFuelo and we have checked that box. The other one that we have high interest in is hair, which is a separate category. And the third one, which we put in its own category mechanistically, is biostimulators. So we have highlighted three areas: skin quality (we just checked that box), hair, and biostimulators. We continue to work on the other two categories.
Our next question is from Sam Eiber with U.S. Bancorp BTIG. Please proceed.
Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. You are ramping Evolysse in the U.S., expanding outside the U.S. with the new Symatese agreement, and you signed the ProFuelo agreement. Maybe just talk about your ability to execute against all of these initiatives and your own bandwidth, particularly when it comes to still achieving your profitability targets?
Yes. Maybe I will divide that up and let both Tatjana and Rui comment. When you talk about our ability to execute, I think about it on three levels. One is our ability to commercially execute. The second is whether we can get these products through the development program. And the third is how we fund them collectively as you think about our long-term outlook. On commercial execution, we have a great commercial team. You have seen the performance on Evolysse in its first year in a challenged market, and we have been the fastest share gainer in that space with that product. The cadence of the approvals we expect put us in a strong position. As I mentioned earlier, over the next four years you are talking about three product launches in a window that are all facial injectable products injected by the same clinicians, which strengthens our message in front of the customer around our portfolio strategy. Now, let Rui speak about the development process.
Your question was really aimed at how we manage development pathways. There is a cadence. If we look at Sculpt, it is toward the end of its process. Lips is in a different part of development. ProFuelo is in its own part of development. If we execute on other deals, they are all in different parts of development. Looking at our internal capabilities, we have a skilled group that focuses on late-stage development—that is a lot of our expertise—so all of this fits in our wheelhouse. Looking at the cadence of the things we are targeting, we are able to maintain our R&D expenses as we've suggested and previously shared.
I will add to the last part of your question, Sam. We talked about 2025 being an investment year, setting up our commercial infrastructure both in the United States and internationally to sell the portfolio. We have great talent in that commercial organization and Rui just talked about his team. In terms of capital efficiency, you heard us talk about expanding geographically with Symatese and the IPSY deal, which are both very capital efficient. So across the board—whether it is balance sheet management or operating expenses—we feel confident in being able to deliver on this pipeline.
Okay, really helpful. Maybe if I could just squeeze in a follow-up here. On the second half outlook and how we should be thinking about cadence, any seasonality in terms of modeling considerations for the toxin business? Thank you.
Yes. We modeled our outlook really looking at the sequential step-ups and step-downs that you would see seasonally in the industry. We grew 14% in the first half and we are giving guidance where we up the midpoint of revenue a bit, reflecting our confidence in the second half following through the same approach. If you look at year-over-year growth rates, last year the first half grew high single digits and then in the second half we stabilized and were at about 14% growth. So consider those comparable periods when thinking about our second half guidance.
Our next question is from Serge Belanger with Needham and Company. Please proceed.
Hi, this is John on for Serge. Congrats on the quarter and thanks for taking our questions. First, a follow-up on the second half: you guys are coming off a solid first half and updating your full year guidance, so the second half implies over 10% growth. Curious about any specific initiatives you guys have planned for the seasonally important second half—whether that is through Evolus Rewards or digital marketing, GLP-1 related messaging, and so on—and how we should think about the impact of these programs on revenue growth this year. And then Tatjana, you touched on tariffs in your prepared remarks. Can you clarify whether toxins still remain exempt at this time? And similarly with Evolysse, I believe they had been subject to 10% tariffs previously, so curious if anything has changed there and what your outlook is. Thanks.
Great. I will touch on our back half views at a high level. The back half is as important as the front half. Given the scale of our organization, we have heavy investment in marketing, education, and promotional activities every quarter. This year, we will train over 14,000 clinicians hands-on, and that continues each quarter. Education is a critical part of driving that confidence gap. Our consumer loyalty team has done an effective job of not just maintaining patient return rates, but recruiting new patients into the category, and our co-branded media helps advertise and recruit some of those patients. Our clinics advertise both our Evolus Rewards program as well as the brands in their co-branded media. The mix of our investments is complementary to continue driving fast growth with the accounts that partner with us. The GLP-1 target is a key strategic area of focus and worked well in the second quarter; we will focus on it in the back half as well. Lastly, the fourth quarter is the heavy promotional season for our category. We collaborate with beauty brands as we have in the past, offering consumer gifts with purchase, and we do special promotions that our accounts look forward to. There is nothing unique there that presents unusual financial dynamics; it is part of our operating model.
On the tariffs, our position remains the same. Evolysse has been subject to a 10% tariff and continues to be. Jeuveau at this time is still exempt. There is a pronouncement regarding patented pharmaceutical tariffs and as we wait for clarity on that, we are prudently bringing in some inventory into the U.S. We have a mechanism with our partner so that it is not going to impact our cash use.
There are no further questions at this time. We have reached the end of our call. You may now disconnect your lines and thank you for your participation.