‘Smart’ skin care: SkinBioTherapeutics strikes deal with Croda International on microbiome tech

The deal gives speciality chemical major Croda International and its active ingredient business Sederma exclusive rights to SkinBioTherapeutics’ ‘SkinBiotix’ technology for the development of an active cosmetic ingredient. SkinBioTherapeutics maintained rights to use the technology in other areas, including medicine, pharmaceuticals and food supplements.

“The deal is for the life of the patent – 20-odd years – where [Croda and Sederma] have got absolute exclusivity in the area of skin care for cosmetics,”​ Stuart Ashman, CEO of SkinBioTherapeutics, told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.

The technology, which took around five years to develop, used cosmetic- and food-grade lysates from extracted probiotics to increase skin barrier integrity, protect the skin and increase skin healing in response to injury. Recent human studies also indicated increased elasticity and natural skin fibre enhancement – aspects of great interest for the cosmetics world, Ashman said.

 “…This is the accumulation of a bunch of work and as far as we’re concerned the cosmetics market is very large; it’s a perfect use of our science,” ​he said.

Skin microbiome deal: ‘This is what we call a smart partnership’​

Ashman said the deal with Croda International marked SkinBioTherapeutics’ first commercial agreement on the technology. Work, he said, had already commenced on designing a dedicated industrial-scale production line, as had planning for further tests to validate any additional claims. 

“I think we’re looking at 18 months to two years before we see a product hit the market,” ​he said. ​

Asked if SkinBioTherapeutics would be closely involved in the scale-up of its technology and development of a subsequent active cosmetic, he said: “The SkinBioTherapeutics team will be very hands-on. It is core to what we do and we want to be involved in every step of the way. We need to make sure the science is executed correctly. This is what we call a smart partnership.”​

Arnaud Fournial, managing director of Sederma, said the SkinBiotix technology had a “solid scientific foundation”​ and the potential to become an “essential and significant component of cosmetic products within the rapidly emerging skin microbiome market”​.

Beyond active skin care? ​

For cosmetics, Ashman said the technology held widespread opportunities far beyond active skin care – into oral care and hair care. But he said these areas would require further scientific validation, as would any additional potential skin care claims, like UV protection.

“There’s the potential for ‘anti-dandruff’ claims with shampoo, there are also potential oral care claims looking at mouthwashes and toothpastes for the prevention of bacteria. There are multiple other areas of study we’ve also looked into in the past like enhancing the skin’s natural barrier to UV, increasing protection against the sun, which is obviously the biggest culprit to ageing. If we could do some work in that, that would be great for cosmetics,” ​he said.

Both companies said as the design and build of the active skin care ingredient was carried out, concurrent testing focused on other application areas would be detailed in further, additional agreements.