Imagine the scene: I smear some cream on my face and I grab my smartphone to pass it in front of my face to activate the active ingredients …
This gesture, adolescents and adults victims of sometimes severe acne may do it in two or three years. For now, a microalgae extract has just been patented by Ifremer. All that remains is to find an industrialist to test and market it in the form of cream.
The extract helps prevent severe forms of acne
“The compounds that are contained in the extract will be able to interact and eliminate the bacteria responsible for acne“. Jean baptiste Bérard is a study engineer in marine biology at Ifremer. He has been working for two years with the universities of La Rochelle, that of Limoges, the Nantes hospital and the CNRS on the development of the patent. L‘microalgae extract helps prevent severe forms of acne and treats mild acne, it also limits the production of sebum, an oily substance in the skin that promotes acne. It is already used for the treatment of forms of cancer.
The University of La Rochelle provided its expertise on pharmaceutical aspects and his knowledge of compounds. “In La Rochelle we carried out mass spectrometry analyzes to characterize the content of the extract“specifies Jean Baptiste Bérard, the Ifremer researcher
The effectiveness of the microalgae extract has been demonstrated in vitro
The advantage of these microalgae is thatthey are found in quantity in the Atlantic, the species is quite common. “Our composition is a natural extract of Skeletonema marinoi. After an ethanol extraction, the solution is simply dried and incorporated into a cream or gel“explains the Ifremer researcher. Their effectiveness has been demonstrated in vitro on 3 species of bacteria responsible for more or less severe forms of acne
The microalgae extract could constitute an alternative to the use of antibiotics or retinoids currently prescribed in the case of severe forms, and limit the risks of resistance to treatments. These first promising results will have to be confirmed by clinical studies. It remains to find an industrialist to carry out these studies, to develop the cream based on microalgae extract. It could be marketed within two to three years.