Aethic and King’s College team up to develop coral-based sunscreen

Aethic, a UK-based skin care company, has teamed up with King’s College, London to develop a new sunscreen Aethic Sôvée based on MAA’s (mycosporine-like amino acids), produced by coral.

The firm, which claims to be the world’s first company to develop coral-based sunscreen, said that it has entered into an agreement with King’s as a follow up to its first eco-compatible sunscreen product developed with the Life and Environmental Sciences department of Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy, reported cosmeticsdesign.com.

The firm said Kings College has determined the new sunscreen as the best ‘host’ product for the compound, as it contains broad-spectrum UVA/UVB and photo-stability characteristics and scientifically proven eco-compatibility characteristics.

According to the firm, the sunscreens ingredient MAA is developed from algae living within coral, making a compound that is transported to the coral, and then modifying it into a sunscreen, benefiting both the coral and the algae.

The firm said the compound besides protecting them both from UV damage, also helps fish that feed on the coral from the sunscreen protection.

King’s College team, which has done the study initially, discovered how the naturally-occurring MAA’s were produced, the company said.

King’s Institute of Pharmaceutical Science reader Dr Paul Long said MAA’s have a number of other potential properties, and human sunscreen is certainly a good platform to begin understanding the compound’s features.

"If our further studies confirm the results we are expecting, we hope that we will be able to develop a sunscreen with the broadest spectrum of protection," Long added.