"Doping" for skin: how rejuvenating cosmetics created in Tomsk

TOMSK, Jan 22 – RIA Tomsk. Cosmetics with xenon from scientists of Tomsk State University (TSU) may appear in the federal networks, the negotiations on the supply will begin in February. It has already won Asian markets – whitening means under the "Snowdrop" brand are sold in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. In what the inert gas turned out to be better than hyaluronks and how the success of the product was helped by British businessmen – in the material of RIA Tomsk.

Anesthesia without consequences

In 2007, biochemist Alexander Verkhovsky together with the professor resuscitator Mikhail Shpisman opened an office for therapeutic anesthesia, where xenon – an inert gas, was used for inhalation.

"This is the best anesthesia, the safest one! It's used to perform complicated operations at the Tomsk Cancer Research Institute, Cardiology Research Institute. It is very expensive, but it does not provide such side effects as nitrous oxide. It does not enter into any reactions in the body, does not connect with anything, how many inhaled – so much exhaled. Patients recover very well, I would say, in a good mood: xenon tones up perfectly", – says Verkhovsky.

At some point Verkhovsky had the idea of using xenon in external products, and he began to study how to inject gas into liquid ointments, creams, drugs (although research on medical drugs was postponed – there is too long and thorny way with its registration).

Know-how was in the fact that creams with xenon could act not on the surface of the skin, but inside it. "If popular hyaluronic acid in the composition of creams often just "closes" the pores and micro-wrinkles, then xenon can facilitate the delivery of active ingredients directly into the epidermis and, thus, enhance their action", – explains the biochemist.

In 2008 the technology was tested, patents were obtained.

"It was a great time to start a business: the price of oil was very high, there was plenty of money in banks, we had investors, we opened a company, started making cosmetics, went to the "Intercharm" exhibition, where we immediately received a gold medal for the development ... And then it happened the crisis and the money ended abruptly, literally in one day! And the liabilities and debts remained", – recalls Alexander.

Together with his wife, they moved to China and stayed there for five years.

Chinese investors

The apartment, company car, paid trips to the homeland twice a year – Chinese investors who invested in the "xenon" laboratory, created excellent conditions for living and working.

"They (investors) were engaged in construction, and in China, the scale of construction is completely different – if they build, then it's the whole quarters, so there is a completely different turns: 100 thousand dollars – is not a big money. For these guys, cosmetics were something like toys, and business that invested in China in innovations received good preferences in the local SEZ", – says Verkhovsky.

But the cosmetics business did not work out – precisely because investors initially did not consider this topic as a business. We parted in a good way – each side got its own profit. In 2014, Verkhovsky returned to Tomsk. Work on the study of xenon properties and their practical application continued on the basis of Tomsk State University.

"We met with the leadership of TSU, and then the rector Eduard Galazhinsky supported the idea of specialized laboratory creating – later it was called the TSU Laboratory for Biochemistry of Transport Systems, I became the head, although I don’t have any scientific degrees. I must pay tribute to the leadership of TSU – progressive and unformed, which in everything made advances", – notes Alexander Verkhovsky.

"Snowdrop" blossomed

The first partner also appeared thanks to TSU: the founder of the British company Eurasia Consortium Stuart Kewley came to the university; he was presented with promising practical developments of TSU scientists, including xenon cosmetics. They agreed with Verkhovsky against the background of a general interest in Asia.

"Stewart said: "If you make cosmetics with a whitening effect, I will sell it". And we did. Stewart tested it in Vietnam, got very good reviews. He also thought up a brand for Asia – "Snowdrop", the design developed my son Ilya", – tells Alexander.

The creation of the first commercial batch of cream required a serious amount – 2-3 million rubles ("We worked with 6-7 suppliers of cosmetic raw materials, mainly foreign companies, plus xenon itself, produced in the Moscow region, is very expensive – about a thousand rubles per liter of gas", – specifies Verkhovsky). The investor was Nanotechnology center "SIGMA.Tomsk", a separate company was created for the project – "Xenon-Cosmeceuticals", which became a resident of the Tomsk SEZ.

Due to the fact that "Sigma" money was state-owned (the company was a structure of RUSNANO state corporation), the process dragged on: Verkhovsky half-heartedly remembers participation in public procurement, delays in papers, some perennial problems with documents – that print is purple, rather than blue, the signature was put with a pen of the wrong color ... "We are building the digital economy, and there are more and more papers, and this affects the costs", – he states.

The prime cost of the cream turned out to be around 12 dollars for one jar, Stuart sells them for $ 50 – for a good product in Asia, this is an acceptable price. In 2017, he began to supply "Snowdrop" to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, then Brazil was added.

As a seller, he also bears fixed costs, for example, in Vietnam, customs officers kept the goods in stock for a month, and the British had to personally leave and settle the conflict. In Malaysia, a local counterpart of the Ministry of Health forced him to get a halal certificate for products ...

Capture the Russian market

The cosmeceutical market is very dynamic: every 2-3 months there are new, improved components that representatives of raw materials manufacturers send to manufacturers of cosmetics. Thus, Alexander Verkhovsky got samples from the snail's venom and the viper's poison, which acted as a muscle relaxant – relaxed the skin, gradually smoothing the “crow's feet”.

"I appreciated them as a biochemist, picked up the concentration, compiled properly. Xenon strengthened the effect of these ingredients – besides the fact that it carries them into the skin, it is an anesthetic itself, relaxes the skin, improves microcirculation and removes puffiness. So it turned out the cream with anti-aging action (with the "Botox effect", as we call it), which we decided to bring to the Russian market", – says Alexander.

In the fall of 2017 the first sales began – via the Internet and through beauty salons of Tomsk. Also under the brand "Aleexe" began to produce cream for problem skin. Volumes are still small – according to Verkhovsky, up to two hundred pieces per month (which does not have the best effect on cost), but sales are more likely to be test than professional: "It is important for us to collect feedback, estimate the number of secondary purchases", – says the founder of the company.

In the autumn of 2018, by the decision of the TSU supervisory board, a small innovative enterprise (SIP) LLC "Nonex" was registered – specifically for the further commercialization of the developments of the TSU Laboratory for Biochemistry of Transport Systems and their promotion to the Russian and international markets.

In February, representatives of several federal networks come to Tomsk, with whom Verkhovsky will negotiate about distribution. He states: "We are not going to transfer rights (although such proposals arise) – it is important for us not to lose ourselves, leave our brand, continue to work on the product in the laboratory. We still have a lot of ideas on the use of xenon in dietary supplements, food processing, various devices for skin treatments".