BASF to commercialize cosmetic ingredient Symbiocell in China

Cosmetic ingredient supplier BASF announced its personal care business obtained a cosmetic ingredient notification in China for Symbiocell, an ingredient marketed toward sensitive skin.

BASF touts Symbiocell as an active cosmetic ingredient designed to reduce reactivity and discomfort in sensitive skin, a primary concern among Asia Pacific consumers. With this notification, the ingredient can now be commercialized in China.

The main component of Symbiocell is Cestrum latifolium leaf extract, which comes from a shrub-like tree that grows primarily in the tropics. The extract can be used as a skin conditioning agent. Symbiocell contains water, butylene glycol, Cestrum latifolium leaf extract, xanthan gum, propanediol and caprylyl glycol.

Symbiocell testing results

So far, Symbiocell has undergone laboratory tests that indicate the ingredient can “support healthy levels of the basal expression of CD86 in skin dendritic cells,” according to BASF.

CD86 is a glycoprotein expressed in dendritic cells, a special type of immune cell found in the skin. Glycoproteins support the immune system by allowing white blood cells to move around the body. 

BASF also performed a clinical study of Symbiocell with just 31 participants who have sensitive skin. Over a three-week period, the participants treated one side of the face with a 2% Symbiocell formulation and the other side with a control product. 

The Symbiocell formulation performed only 4% better in treating cutaneous discomfort than the benchmark product with the formulation diminishing stinging by 62%, while the benchmark product diminished it by 58%. 

BASF also says that most of the study participants reported that the side of their face treated with Symbiocell felt less irritable, more radiant, comforted and soothed.

BASF ingredient sourcing

Last month, BASF announced a partnership with Slovenian-based biotech firm Acies Bio to produce fatty alcohols for surfactants, emulsifiers and other chemical ingredients for personal care products. Acies Bio’s OneCarbonBio platform converts renewable methanol from CO2 into raw chemicals. 

The company says the collaboration will help boost BASF’s renewable feedstock portfolio.

Similarly, Innovative Oil and Carbon Solutions (INOCAS) signed an agreement to supply BASF with macaúba oil for its Personal and Home Care portfolio in Brazil and Europe. Macaúba oil is sourced from the macaúba tree, which grows in Brazil and is adapted to semi-arid conditions and poor soils. INOCAS aims to partner with smallholder farms and to support regenerative agriculture to produce these trees for oil extraction.