Dr Stephen Jones, CEO of Evocutis, commented: "We are delighted that such a distinguished body as the IVTIP recognises the value of LabSkin in the product development process.”
Animal replacement technology, LabSkin, emulates living skin with both dermal and epidermal layers. The epidermal layer is differentiated, which provides a dry, air-exposed surface to test all aspects of skin microbiology, according to Evocutis.
Proposed ban adds impetus
“Sophisticated model systems such as LabSkin are able to provide substantial amounts of valid safety and claims-support data for skin care products without the need to resort to animal testing,” continued Jones.
“The staged introduction of the ban on animal testing for cosmetic products and ingredients over the last few years has given impetus to the development of alternative in vitro methods.”
Founded in 1993, the IVTIP promotes research and development into alternatives to animal testing and works in an advisory capacity to the European Commission.
Member organizations come from the UK, Europe and the USA and include Beiersdorf, Henkel and Leo Pharma.
Presentation and portfolio
Evocutis were accepted as a member following a presentation of its skin equivalent technology, with IVTIP recognizing that the technology could significantly contribute to its mission to ‘identify, develop and validate suitable in vitro laboratory alternatives to animal testing.’
"Evocutis is commited to further developing LabSkin to provide a portfolio of testing capabilities to the industry,” said Dr Richard Bojar, Evocutis CSO.
“We have already moved from using skin equivalents for basic toxicology assays to producing validated methods using LabSkin for microbiology and anti-ageing data.”
“We are currently developing phototoxicity, moisturization, inflammation and wound-healing assays using the LabSkin platform, which will become available in the coming months. These developments demonstrate the flexibility of the technology and will allow a more uniform approach to material testing,” he concluded.