L’Oréal to boost microbiome beauty research with Lactobio acquisition

07 Dec 2023 --- L’Oréal plans to deepen its knowledge of microorganisms that live on the skin’s surface with the acquisition of Lactobio, a probiotic and microbiome research company based in Copenhagen.

L’Oréal says it has been researching the microbiome space for two decades and plans to leverage Lactobio’s microbiome experience and IP portfolio to develop “safe and effective” new beauty solutions using live bacteria.

Anne Colonna, global head of Advanced Research at L’Oréal Groupe sees “The integration of Lactobio into our Advanced Research is highly complementary. L’Oréal’s strong scientific knowledge and technological advancements coupled with Lactobio’s best-in-class formulations using living organisms will significantly strengthen and accelerate our microbiome research dedicated to beauty.”

“In joining forces, we aim to develop a new generation of cosmetics that will use cutting-edge innovations in the formulation process to provide science-based, precision probiotic and postbiotic products with new performance levels.”

Precision probiotics for skin and hair
Lactobio was founded in 2017 by Søren Kjærulff and Charlotte Vedel, who developed a proprietary microbiome discovery platform and screening method to select the most effective and safe strains.

L’Oréal will sharpen its microbiome portfolio by acquiring Lactobio.The precision probiotics, created from a large biobank of lactobacillus bacteria, will be used in the development of topical formulations containing live bacteria. L’Oréal says it will take inspiration from nature and generate beneficial products for the skin and hair.

“Denmark has a long history of innovation based on living microorganisms applied to food, agriculture and health, and it was against this background that we were inspired to create Lactobio,” said Søren Kjærulff, founder and chief scientific officer of Lactobio.

“I am incredibly proud of what our team has achieved and excited for what the future holds as part of L’Oréal Groupe, where together, we can apply microbiome research to new fields of beauty innovation for people all over the world.”

Microbiomes in oral and baby care
Beyond beauty, data by Innova Market Insights suggests launches in the oral care category increasingly feature microbiome-balancing probiotics to attract customers.

For example, the ingredients in the dental brand Cocoshine are designed to gently whiten teeth, rebuild enamel strength, repair sensitivity and help balance oral microbiomes.

The baby care segment also highlights the importance of the microbiome. According to MyMicrobiome, postnatal methods to restore a healthy microbiome seeding can significantly improve a baby’s health. Microbial treatments in early life can mitigate adverse immune development effects due to delayed acquisition of the neonatal gut microbiome.

Edited by Sabine Waldeck

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