ISP announces European market launch of new anti-inflammatory ingredient Vital ET™

International Specialty Products (ISP), a world-leading supplier of specialty ingredients for the cosmetics industry, has launched a new anti-erythemal and anti-inflammatory ingredient into the European market. This latest innovation from the company, Vital ET™, is a unique bio-functional form of vitamin E developed for use in the formulation of skin treatment products for the personal care sector. Already launched in the USA in 2003, Vital ET has been available in the European market since early 2004 and will be a key feature at the forthcoming In-Cosmetics exhibition to be held in Milan, April 27-29, 2004.

Delivering both anti-erythemal and anti-inflammatory properties, Vital ET provides an important addition to the formulation of products designed to prevent or remediate the irritation and inflammation of skin caused by a range of common conditions. These include sunburn, shaving or acne, as well as the treatment products that target the effects of ageing and environmental stress. Excellent skin lubricity and elegant skin-feel complement the skin restorative properties of Vital ET and give it an ideal fit in applications such as sunscreens and after-sun products, daily use body lotions and anti-ageing creams, anti-perspirants, anti-acne and shaving products, also in the foundations and concealers of colour cosmetics.

“Acute inflammation of the skin, caused by sunburn, shaving or acne is painful and cosmetically unappealing,” says Neil Thomas, Personal Care Marketing Director, ISP Europe. “In developing a product that can aid the reduction of the redness and swelling associated with these conditions, we have exploited the properties of disodium tocopherol phosphates which have been shown to deliver that benefit. In Vital ET we have complexed it with disodium lauriminodipropionate to make it more bioavailable to the skin.”

In-vitro penetration studies show that Vital ET (INCI: Disodium Lauriminodipropionate Tocopheryl Phosphates) is better delivered than α-tocopheryl acetate under the same conditions. In a clinical study to assess the potential of Vital ET to reduce the redness and swelling of inflamed acne lesions, it was found that at 3 wt. %, Vital ET significantly reduced both swelling and redness after 5 days of application compared to no treatment.

And, to evaluate the potential benefits of Vital ET for sun care applications, a clinical study examined both pre-treatment and post-treatment of UV-induced erythema. Three concentrations of Vital ET (3 wt.%, 1 wt.%, 0.5 wt.%) were examined against 3 wt.% tocopheryl acetate, and a medium-strength prescription steroid as a positive control. All concentrations of Vital ET and the steroid resulted in lower erythema scores when applied prior to 1 MED UV irradiation. The same result was the same when the product was applied following 2 MED UV irradiation exposure. Tocopheryl acetate was less effective in both pre- and post-treatment and all treatments were better than base.

Vital ET, which is easily formulated into oil and water-based systems and compatible with a broad range of raw materials, will be specially featured in the ISP display on stand H20 during In-Cosmetics 2004. In addition, it will be the subject of a technical paper entitled New Bio-functional Ingredients, being given by Dr. Andrew Mint, ISP’s Director of Technology-Europe, at the In-Cosmetics seminar which runs concurrently with the show.

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