Mail slow? View this month’s issue, right online!
Our digital version is easy to share with colleagues. See this month’s issue and digital versions of previous issues too.
A one-on-one interview conducted by our editorial team with industry leaders in our market.
Easy-to-digest data for your business.
Shampoos, conditioners, colorants and styling products created by leading industry suppliers.
Creams, serums, facial cleansers and more created by leading suppliers to the skincare industry.
Detergents, fabric softeners and more created by leading suppliers to the fabric care industry.
Eyeshadows, lipsticks, foundations and more created by leading suppliers to the color cosmetics industry.
Bodywashes, and bar and liquid soaps created by leading suppliers to the personal cleanser industry.
Hard surface cleaners, disinfectants and more created by leading suppliers to the home care industry.
Eau de parfums and eau de toilettes, body sprays, mists and more created by leading suppliers to the fragrance industry.
UV lotions and creams, self-tanners and after-sun products created by leading suppliers to the suncare industry.
A detailed look at the leading US players in the global household and personal products industry.
A detailed look at the leading players outside the US in the global household and personal products industry.
Looking for a new raw material or packaging component supplier? Your search starts here.
When you need a new manufacturing partner or private label company, get started here.
Who owns that? To keep track of leading brands and their owners, click here.
An annual publication, Company Profiles features leading industry suppliers with information about markets served, products, technologies and services for beauty, pesonal care and home care.
New products and technologies from some of the brightest minds in the industry.
A one-on-one video interview between our editorial teams and industry leaders.
Listen to the leading experts in the global household and personal products industry.
Comprehensive coverage of key topics selected by sponsors.
Detailed research on novel ingredients and other solutions for the global household and personal care industry.
Company experts explain what works and why.
Exclusive content created by our affiliates and partners for the household and personal care industry.
Exciting news releases from the household and personal care industry.
Our targeted webinars provide relevant market information in an interactive format to audiences around the globe.
Looking for a job in the household and personal care industry, search no further.
Get your products and services in front of thousands of decision-makers. View our print and online advertising options.
Follow these steps to get your article published in print or online
What are you searching for?
Leading testing firms are investing in their businesses—and that makes it easier for manufacturers to assert the safety and efficacy of their products.
By: Christine Esposito
October 6, 2020
If you are in the personal care business, you know consumers are smart—they compare prices, read reviews on product performance and seek out information on ingredient safety. The current pandemic has changed and amplified many of these habits. Some are taking a hard look at their expenditures as job loss and insecurity looms, and others are taking an even greater interest in a product’s efficacy and safety. Pandemic or not, it’s up to you to convince consumers to buy your CBD facial mask, long-wear lipstick or soothing hand sanitizer—and testing service providers hold the keys to your success by delivering independent confirmation of claims that hold sway over shoppers. At the Ready Leading testing providers have been investing in their business during the past year, and with the onset of COVID-19, they have also implemented additional measures and protocols designed to keep both employees and panelists safe. BioScreen Testing Services, an ALS Global Company, has invested in numerous upgrades including six multiport solar simulators. “This required hiring and training for numerous staff to expand our photobiology throughput, and we are continuing to expand in that area,” Adam Rope told Happi. In addition, BioScreen acquired the Colorface from NewTone, a state-of-the-art imaging system that provides full face acquisition with no chin rest or forehead prongs. According to Rope, superior resolution and images can be accessed by clients in real time. Replication of the images from one interval to the other is also improved due to the fact that subjects do not move to re-adjust for different angles as the camera moves around the subjects. Further, Rope said BioScreen is investing in a new clinical site to increase and expand its overall capacity and recruitment needs. According to Rope, demand is growing in ophthalmologic safety claims (think “safe for use around the eyes” and “no tears”) as well consumer perception studies, fueled by anti-aging. “We’ve seen a lot of testing for hand sanitizers, we’re performing time kill studies, alcohol assays and testing for methanol contamination on a weekly basis,” he added. Tracey L. Baubie, president/CEO at Comprehensive Research Group, Inc. (CRG), said her company made significant hires in 2019, adding clinical associates, clinical coordinators, technical imagers and a wide variety of medical personnel. “We also expanded our facility space adding an additional 2000 square feet, providing a fourth CRG clinical facility large enough to accommodate a multitude of clinical studies, including safety-in-use tests, claims or efficacy studies for skin, hair or infant care. Because this fourth facility runs contiguous with our existing facilities, it will also help ensure that we can satisfy those studies and clients who demand large, complex clinical trials,” she said. Baubie said last year’s new hires and facility expansion made CRG “nimble enough to offer a wide range of clinical and professional services with facility space sufficient to manage clinical studies in the midst of COVID-19.” Baubie told Happi that CRG has seen an uptick in fragrance and malodor assessments for a variety of personal care products, including deodorants and body washes. “In the midst of COVID-19, we have had to get very creative in terms of how to conduct ‘live’ fragrance and malodor assessments, while ensuring that everyone—the subjects and expert assessors alike—remains safe. With a fair amount of creativity, ingenuity and consultation with our medical advisors, we have been able to implement critical safeguards, while ensuring the study and data integrity.” Further, she said there is growing industry interest in creating new over-the-counter products for chronic skin and scalp conditions such as dry scalp/dandruff and eczema. “While these areas of interest are certainly not ‘new,’ there does seem to be some renewed interest in new technologies and developing better products aimed at improving skin/scalp health for both of these specialized populations,” she said, noting that CRG has a leading expert ASFS (adherent scalp flaking score) grader and a panel of nearly 1000 people with dry scalp/dandruff. “Our Minnesota climate, of course, gives us a helping hand when it comes to finding individuals with dry scalp or skin studies. The same is true for persons who suffer from eczema. We have been building a panel of eczema sufferers for several years now, and we are pleased that this appears to be a renewed interest by some of the industry players,” she said. New Investments Consumer Product Testing Company, Inc., Fairfield, NJ, has created a new laboratory space for its expanded in-vitro safety department. “With the advent of the new in-vitro method and their acceptance in most of the world, this was a necessity,” said Craig R. Weiss, co-CEO and president. According to Weiss, through 2020, the main requests for efficacy and safety testing have remained fairly constant, with change coming more so in the types of products to be tested. “In the beginning of the year, there was a tremendous amount of CBD/hemp oil testing for our chemistry and clinical departments. As the year moved on, we have seen more hand sanitizer requested than ever before,” Weiss said, noting that there has also been a greater need for hard surface disinfectant testing, too. AMA Laboratories reports that it has invested in imagery and photo analysis services, including what it calls a unique “retro” study time point. “We have extensive experience in documenting thousands of faces utilizing our matched scientific photography. Now, for the first time ever we are able to offer a unique photographic technique spanning over a decade of trials for age comparison studies,” explained Neil A. Zimbaldi A.C.E., multimedia design coordinator. According to Zimbaldi, adding RetroGrammetrix to a study not only tracks how a panelist has aged, but also documents exactly how much younger than the original baseline results their skin appears after using a product. “You will have the ability to accurately to claim ‘… appears XX years younger.’ A real anti-aging tool employing non-invasive, non-contact technology, which is digitally certified unretouched,” he said. In the area of claim substantiation, there has been a significant increase in long-wear cosmetic claims, “as well as test requests for products containing CBD for almost every claim possible,” said Zimbaldi. And, SPF and RIPT testing are “always trending,” he added. “There continues to be a push from the European Industry for alternative SPF testing methods (in-vitro, hybrid diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and in-silico methods). Also, inquiries regarding blue light (HEV) and visible light (VIS) testing continue to increase in popularity. Some industry experts have started discussing the potential impact of visible light on laboratory generated SPF numbers,” said Zimbaldi. RCTS, Inc., Irving, TX, has installed the EvaFace 3-D Imaging System, which provides high-resolution images of both small facial skin areas as well as the full face to analyze changes of features such as wrinkles, roughness and volume (e.g., lips, under eye puffiness, sagginess) with micrometer accuracy. “The new system allows RCTS to offer a broader and more detailed range of testing services for the benefit of its sponsors as it relates to the efficacy of their skin care products, said Michael Rozen. “Eotech 3D skin imaging systems are well-established in Europe and the new EvaFACE system at RCTS marks an addition to the availability of these systems in the US to answer to the needs of organizations sourcing clinical dermatological safety and efficacy testing services.” According to Rozen, RCTS has strong clinical safety and efficacy testing programs, and “bookings in both of these have remained steady over the past year.” There is c-suite news at InVitro International, which hired a new president, Atul Jhalani. The company also added laboratory personnel and invested new resources to help fuel the growth that executives expect from the adoption of its Ocular Irritection (OI) test by OECD (TG 496), making it the only 100% non-animal ocular test adopted by OECD. “This increased level of scientific credibility and legal protection, along with emphasis on 24-48-hour eye/skin irritancy test results and lowest cost, has been well received by customers and laboratory partners globally,” said InVitro International CEO Rich Ulmer. “Conversing with our cosmetic and personal care product customers in 2020, it was clear that there is an increased importance to cutting testing time and costs. Getting to market a month earlier enables them to either beat anticipated competition (e.g. cleaning, sanitizing products), or to realize sales ahead of budgeted financials. A bigger deal today than ever before.” In terms of non-animal testing volume of requests, Jhalani said InVitro International is receiving a significantly higher number of requests from the adhesives industry, along with many applications in cosmetics, personal care and home care industries. “The in vitro testing future looks very bright—even in the face of COVID-19,” he said. “The pandemic has made it hard for companies to conduct RIPT testing due to the need for human volunteers. We have been available for testing throughout this pandemic and provide results in less than a week compared to several weeks from other technologies. Savvy customers shifted to in vitro testing in lieu of RIPT.” According to Ulmer, the pandemic has resulted in numerous sanitizing products being introduced in the home care sector and there were increased irritancy complaints from these new products. InVitro International, he said, “provided faster results compared to any other testing technology for skin care products, leading to a month or two faster introductions. This is a big advantage in today’s environment.” Validated Claim Support, Teaneck, NJ, has “effectively tripled” the size of its skin care claims department to accommodate social distancing requirements, and invested in secondary engineering and temperature/humidity controls throughout its retrofitted clinical lab space, according to executives who spoke with Happi. “We’ve seen a dramatic trend toward using less chemically-derived sunscreens, thanks in no short supply to the ongoing publications about sunscreen ingredients entering the bloodstream through the skin courtesy of FDA,” Jane Tervooren, vice president, business development, Validated Claim Support, told Happi. “This coincides with the larger industry trend of going ‘back to basics’ with less preservatives and more naturally-sourced raw materials and actives, from a formulation perspective, this presents lots of new headaches, as there has been a boatload of money spent on film formers and emulsifiers that make products softer, smoother and silkier on the skin. Couple that with the vast indoctrination of micronized and nano active particle sizes and you have a slew of new and exciting variables and challenges that come across our lab bench on the clinical side.” According to Elisabeth Fiquet, president, Evalulab hired a programmer who has improved and developed specific algorithms able to extract quantitative information from standardized images taken with Visia-CR Imaging System, such as pores detection and quantification. The company also developed a setup along with standard operating procedures for hands and feet photographing. The main service requests at Evalulab during the past year include safety tests such as HRIPT, SPF testing as well as non-comedogenic tests, according to Fiquet. Clean Sweeps “Clean” beauty is trending across personal care sectors, and as more marketers lean in, testing providers are addressing their needs. “We have seen some marked increased requests for testing to support free-from claim requests, while this would appear to be a formulation-based claim, it must be verified chemically, because without good verification, you are open to class action litigation. When you verify a free-from claim it is of the upmost importance to do so with the most sensitive method possible, like mass spectroscopy,” said Weiss of Consumer Product Testing Company. “Customers are increasingly looking for ‘clean’ formulations that are tested with non-animal technologies. Cosmetic and personal care product marketers know they get to market quicker and at lower costs. Globally, consumers of in vitro tested products know they support ‘caring companies’ that have chosen to avoid making ‘animals’ suffer,” noted Ulmer. He pointed to the changing legal landscape, such as a recently passed law in Colombia that prohibits on the sale of new cosmetics tested on animals starting in 2024. “Colombia took the lead in Latin America and joined a growing list of 40 countries and several US states, including California, Illinois and Nevada, that have already implemented similar bans starting in 2020. Our unwavering commitment to minimize animal suffering is finally getting the attention it deserves worldwide,” he concluded. “Clean or organic products are really supported as a formulation claim based on the ingredient components and supply chain. Accordingly, this is not something that can be outright clinically tested. That said, with regard to sunscreens in particular, recently there has been a major push for ‘natural’ ingredients which include zinc and titanium dioxide. Interestingly enough, based on their mineral/metallic composition these are actually classified as ‘inorganic’ sunscreen filters which can sound somewhat contradictory to consumers and laypeople. The more ‘naturally derived’ the sunscreen is, the ‘less organic’ it technically is, at least from a classification of ingredients perspective,” noted Tervooren of VCS. According to BioScreen’s Rope, clean is driving growth in two areas at his company. “In analytical we’ve seen more testing for Prop 65 type contaminates like heavy metals, 1,4 dioxane, and formaldehyde. In clinical this is more of a consumer perception issue that we can offer focus groups for or general survey studies,” he said. For Baubie of CRG, demographics will keep demand steady for clean products. “We expect the drive for cleaner and greener products will continue as long as Generations Y and Z are major market influencers with their heightened concern for the environment and their desire to move to cleaner, more natural products, all with a similar beauty regime,” she said. Baubie said CRG’s approach to testing “clean” products is no different from its approach to testing more traditional cosmetic and personal care products. “As a CRO, we want to remain blinded, so we do not bias the outcome— even inadvertently. Our job is to make sure we recruit the desired population, in the required quantity, and then follow the protocol requirements with precision so we can deliver reliable, verifiable data on time,” she said. “New trends always mean new testing, as well as retesting of products,” said Weiss about the clean beauty trend. “In this case particularly, clients often focus their attention and efforts toward reformulating existing products and conducting comparisons thereafter versus their own previous formulas.” Whether it is for a new launch or tweaking an existing formulation, brands must back their claims and insure performance and safety with adequate testing. Looking for a testing provider? You can find a list of companies starting on p. 62.
Enter your account email.
A verification code was sent to your email, Enter the 6-digit code sent to your mail.
Didn't get the code? Check your spam folder or resend code
Set a new password for signing in and accessing your data.
Your Password has been Updated !