Microbiome beauty space hampered by misinformation and in need of standardisation – BiomeCentric CEO

BiomeCentric is a full-service contract development manufacturing based on Australia. The company offers end-to-end contract manufacturing of microbiome beauty and health products. It also can support brands with diagnostic testing services.

“What we specialise in, there's not a lot of companies in the world that can do what we do. The key aspect is that we can do diagnostics, DNA sequencing to understand the skin microbiome and develop product with those insights,” ​said founder and CEO Shaun Roux.

The company also specialises in fermentation and can use its technology to enhance natural ingredients. It has a partnership with fellow Aussie ingredient manufacturer Native Extracts to develop such ingredients.

“With those materials, you got a certain amount of nutrients that are available through an extraction process. But when you ferment that process with a probiotic, or organism, essentially it makes a lot of those nutrients much more bioavailable. Through the metabolism of the various components of that plant material, you increase the availability of those nutrients, but you also transform a lot of those nutrients into new compounds,” ​explained chief scientific officer Tristrom Winsley.

Battling misinformation in microbiome​

With its technology and expertise, the company’s overarching mission is to support the development of the microbiome market, which it believes is riddled with misinformation.

While there is a lot of interest in the microbiome and demand for microbiome-friendly products, the company believes the understanding has not kept up with the rapid pace of expansion.

“We want to put meaning back into the word microbiome. We want to standardise this industry, have more standardised processes so that it's more meaningful when we talk about supporting the microbiome,”​ said Roux.

Winsley elaborated that even the basic understanding of the differences between prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics are thrown around loosely by consumers and brands alike.

“We want to bring a bit more specificity to an industry like this, where these words like probiotic and postbiotic are just thrown around. Part of the problem is people are just using ingredients and ad-lib without real knowledge, and the education in the market is not really there.”​

Roux pointed out that the microbiome movement was growing rapidly, making it even more crucial for it to connect with brands.

“We could have started a brand with this technology, but our passion is connecting with brands and give this amazing technology to the consumers We want to throw out the old ways of formulating that just make it about touch, feel and smell, and consider the microbiome and the microbes on your skin. We've got these connections – the gut-skin access, the gut-brain axis – it's all about the microbiome. And that’s why it’s critical, that's why we want to spread the love.”​

BiomeCentric was exhibiting at Cosmoprof Asia 2022 in Singapore, where it connected with cosmetic brands from across Asia Pacific, a key market for the company.

“The biggest consumers in the world of cosmetics are markets like Japan and China. That’s where we want to go. We want to hit the big markets and understand what it’s all about. Obviously, we’re not limited to a specific region, we really want to make an impact globally,” ​said Roux.

In addition to topical cosmetics, the company also sees a lot of potential within the inner beauty category with products such as ingestible serums.