Cosmetics & Personal Care | Monthly bulletin | September 2024
In silico approach: Revolutionising the cosmetics and personal care industry
The cosmetics and personal care industry, subject to strict requirements in terms of product safety and efficacy, is experiencing a major turning point with the rise of in silico approaches. These technologies are based on computer simulations and offer new opportunities for assessing the toxicity, safety, and performance of ingredients and finished products, while complying with increasingly stringent regulations.
The in silico approach involves using computer models to simulate biological, chemical, and physico-chemical interactions to predict the effects of substances on the skin, hair, or body. This method complements in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo tests and has several key uses in the cosmetics industry, such as:
- Preliminary evaluation and advisory: The in silico approach helps with early-stage assessments, offering guidance on which parts of the development process to retain for further analysis.
- Endpoints to evaluate: These include acute oral toxicity, skin and eye irritation, skin sensitisation, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, and endocrine disruption (ED).
- Efficient discovery of active ingredients: In silico approaches accelerate the identification of active ingredients in the early stages of product development, thereby reducing costs and time. It also helps conserve experimental resources by concentrating efforts on key experiments.
Given the high costs and time-consuming nature of cosmetic product development, particularly in identifying new active ingredients, more brands are adopting in silico screening technology, which uses virtual models and molecular databases.
Eurofins companies use state-of-the-art in silico modelling tools. This innovative approach enables Eurofins to offer a wide range of services designed to ensure the compliance, safety, and efficacy of cosmetics and personal care products.
Their services include expert reviews of relevant data and scientific literature, combined with in silico methods. These approaches enable the prediction of toxicity and safety assessments for chemical substances, eliminating the need for animal testing.
Eurofins’ QSAR offerings feature a variety of application tools. These tools generate reliable outcomes in the form of comprehensive reports, accompanied by expert consulting to help clients interpret the data effectively. Through this expertise, Eurofins Cosmetics & Personal Care supports companies in ensuring regulatory compliance while developing safe and effective products.
By combining advanced technology with scientific expertise, Eurofins provides customised consulting services and detailed reports tailored to meet the specific needs of their clients.
Eurofins PSS: Your partner for quality insourcing solutions
Do you have projects that you wish to keep or bring in-house but lack the resources to do so? Eurofins Professional Scientific Services (PSS), our Insourcing Solution, can help.
PSS is the only service provider in the industry dedicated entirely to insourcing. We specialise in recruiting, hiring, training, and managing highly qualified people to perform services at a client’s site using their quality systems and equipment. Currently, PSS:
- Has over 3,000 employees supporting clients at nearly 100 sites around the globe.
- Manages projects ranging from product development, regulatory affairs (cGMP/GLP, ISO, etc.) and manufacturing to routine analytical testing, environmental monitoring, and much more.
- Combines 20+ years of scientific and laboratory operations expertise with industry-leading HR best practices.
- Unlike temp and staff augmentation models, our teams can stay on-site as long as a need exists, eliminating the churn and burn headaches usually associated with the contract durations of those models while offering long-term cost savings to our clients.
The PSS programme, which includes on-site management, is designed to accommodate groups of any size or duration. We tailor the length of the term to meet our client’s needs, whether they are looking to keep work in-house, address headcount restrictions for long-term needs, or seek long-term stability.
Our PSS insourcing model is just one of 3 ways Eurofins companies make executing projects simple. Alongside traditional fee-for-service and FTE outsourcing, Eurofins’ clients can choose bespoke solutions that best fit their organisation’s needs. In fact, most of Eurofins’ clients harness several of our service models to drive their projects forward.
Find out more: https://www.eurofinspss.com/
Towards inclusive beauty: Transforming cosmetics testing for all
In the dynamic and ever-changing landscape of the cosmetics industry, it is imperative to recognise consumer diversity. At Eurofins Cosmetics & Personal Care, we are committed to adapting our testing methods to meet the varied needs of different phototypes and ethnicities. This inclusive approach is essential to ensure the efficacy and safety of cosmetic products for all.
Recently, our laboratories contributed to a scientific publication in the Journal of Cosmetic Chemistry, highlighting the importance of multi-phototype and multi-ethnic testing in the evaluation of cosmetic products. The study, entitled “A dermocosmetic regimen is effective and safe for mild to moderate acne in subjects of all skin phototypes”, highlights the need to take into account the biological and physiological differences between different populations.
Our laboratories, experts in this field, took an active part in this research, demonstrating that our testing methods can be adapted, not only to different skin phototypes, but also to the cultural and biological specificities of each ethnic group. This enables us to provide reliable, relevant results that meet the expectations of today's consumers.
Traditionally, cosmetic tests have often been standardised on light phototype populations, which can lead to unrepresentative results for other groups. At Eurofins Cosmetics & Personal Care, we recognise that skin and hair can vary considerably depending on ethnic origin. This is why we have developed a range of tests suitable for all phototypes, from the lightest to the darkest, and for all hair types, from straight to kinky, ensuring that our assessments reflect the reality of product use on the market.
Eurofins Cosmetics & Personal Care is committed to supporting you in this transition towards more inclusive cosmetics.
What’s next?
Trade show
Cosmetic 360 – 16-17 Oct
Paris – Stand FA35
Learn more: https://www.eurofins.com/cosmetics/media-centre/cosmetic-360/
Cosmetorium – 23-24 Oct
Barcelona – Stand 404
Conference: « Emociones: ¿Respuesta a los desafíos cosméticos globales del mañana? » - - 23 Oct - Room 6 - 13:15 - 13:35
Webinar
Nanomatériaux en cosmétique : Efficacité, Sécurité et Réglementation
French Audience – 3 octobre – 11:00 CET
S'inscrire : https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3836185515619540574
