Pola Chemicals partners with PeptiDream to develop new ‘quasi-drug’ active ingredients

The research and development arm of Pola Orbis Holdings said it hoped that its expertise in dermatology combined with PeptiDream’s technology would be able to accelerate its R&D efforts.

“[Pola Orbis] aims for innovative output and for rapid development by collaborating with external organisations to intensify its dermatological research and develop effective materials.”​

Pola Orbis success with quasi-drugs

A spokesperson from Pola Orbis told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that the company hopes this partnership will help accelerate the expansion of its range of quasi-drug active ingredients.

The company has experienced success with products that have been developed with quasi-drug active ingredients such as POLA’s Wrinkle Shot Medical Serum.

Pola Orbis claimed that the serum was the first quasi-drug cosmetic in Japan that could visibly improve wrinkles. According to the company, the launch of Wrinkle Shot helped POLA acquire new customers.

In December last year, the company received approval for a new quasi-drug active ingredient after a decade in development.

The active will make its debut in May with two products under POLA’s White Shot range.

In February, the company said it hoped to keep up this momentum of developing new materials.

It said its goal was to launch new developments once every five years but it would be difficult considering the strict approval processes.

In order to continue the momentum, it planned to boost its investments into R&D by increasing expenditure ratio to sales by 20%.

Dream team

By collaborating with PeptiDream, Pola Orbis will gain access to the company’s Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) technology.

“PeptiDream’s strength lies in its proprietary PDPS technology, which allows for the creation of a wide variety of highly diverse non-standard peptide libraries that can be used to rapidly identify peptide candidates for pharmaceutical and diagnostic development.”​

PeptiDream added that the partnership with Pola Orbis would give it the chance to extend the applications for PDPS.

“In addition to pharmaceutical and diagnostic use, these peptide candidates have significant potentials for use in a number of other applications. PeptiDream is aiming to strategically expand the scope and application of the PDPS technology into adjacent growing areas.”​

In turn, the spokesperson said Pola Orbis’ would use its expertise in dermatology to develop solutions for skin conditions.

“In addition to the existing drug effects of quasi-drugs, we are planning a joint research project that also includes consideration for skin problems that could not be solved with cosmetics.”​