US-based biotech company Debut has been making waves in the beauty industry with its innovations in biotechnology. After four years of research and development, it recently launched a biotech version of carmine – the bright pigment used in colour cosmetics across the globe that is traditionally made using crushed cochineal beetles.
Last July, the firm announced a partnership with the world’s largest beauty company L’Oréal Group, agreeing to develop more than a dozen bio identical ingredients to replace conventionally sourced ingredients that are currently used in a variety of L’Oréal products across the skin, makeup, fragrance and hair categories.
We spoke to founder and CEO of Debut, Joshua Britton PhD, to find out more about green science and the journey to create the new biotech version of carmine.
Cosmetics Design-Europe (CDE): How do you expect this breakthrough to disrupt the NPD process for products that usually contain carmine?
Joshua Britton (JB): Our breakthrough in carmine bioproduction to create the first-ever molecular replica of the vibrant red pigment will disrupt the formulation of every beauty product form that currently uses carmine including lipstick, lip gloss, eyeshadow, blush, powder and even foundation. Carmine is identified in product labelling by a variety of other terms including cochineal extract, crimson lake, carmine lake, natural red 4 and CI 75470.
The replacement of natural carmine is long overdue, not just in beauty but also in food, beverages and textiles. Derived from the female cochineal beetle, carmine is native to South America and is harvested from the prickly pear cactus. The process is archaic and involves drying, crushing and boiling the insects to obtain the dye. 70,000 female cochineal beetles are needed to produce just one pound of crushed dried insect and a fifth of a pound of carminic acid.
Debut is proud to have achieved a significant scientific breakthrough in the animal-free biomanufacturing of carmine with the discovery of a new class of enzyme and ability to scale production of this ingredient to pilot scale. Our bio manufactured carmine is also devoid of a specific protein found in beetle-derived carmine that is known to cause skin irritation.
CDE: How long have you been working on this innovation and what kinds of challenges did you face on the way?
JB: Carmine is one of the hardest molecules to innovate. A team of 10 Debut scientists have been working on replicating carmine for nearly four years.
The biggest challenge was understanding and cracking the complex biosynthetic steps that happen in the cochineal beetle. Academic literature has referred to this as the ‘missing enzymes’. Debut’s innovation is the discovery of a new family of enzymes that this responsible for a key step in producing bio-carmine.
Another challenge was finding an innovative solution to overcoming expensive inputs during the biomanufacturing process to allow us to reach cost parity with natural carmine. When compared to the molecule harvested from the cochineal beetle, Debut’s bio-carmine has the exact same structure and the same spectrographic properties.
Our molecule is 100% biosynthesised without organic chemistry processes. Importantly, it is devoid of insect residue and common allergens – unlike natural carmine. It also has significantly higher purity: more than 95% purity compared to natural carmine’s 10% purity.
CDE: Are there any limitations to this in comparison to actual carmine?
JB: There are no limitations compared to natural carmine. It is the exact same ingredient found in nature, with the same shade, power, stability and vibrancy as beetle-derived carmine.
Unlike natural carmine, which is reliant on the migration pattern of the beetle, our bio-carmine is renewable, sustainable, and can be consistently manufactured thanks to the carefully controlled biotech process. This contrasts with natural carmine whose colour palette varies from batch to batch.
Bio manufactured carmine is also safer than beetle-derived carmine, making it highly beneficial for beauty, food and beverage applications. The ingredient also boasts antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
