Cosmetics and Personal Care Industry
Animal testing is being phased out of the cosmetics industry in the EU, with the 7th Amendment to the Cosmetics Directive, which requires a total ban on the testing of cosmetics on animals from 2013, whether or not non-animal alternatives are available. Undoubtedly this has provided an impetus to the search for non-animal alternatives.
Kirkstall’s Quasi-Vivo® system is being used to develop more complete models of human skin and cornea. The nutrient flow will speed up the cell growth in these models and simplify the introduction of compounds to challenge the tissue or the sampling of metabolic outputs.
Systems have been developed for skin testing however in many cases the models they use are only for the epidermis. The Kirkstall technology will aid the development of whole skin models and offers a cheaper alternative particularly for smaller companies.
European Federation for Cosmetic Ingredients (EFfCI) – “market needs not being met by any existing products or services”
Kirkstall is currently in discussion with companies in EFfCI and Colipa regarding major research programmes in this area.