BASF signs marketing deal with Quick-Med
distribution agreement with global chemicals player BASF for its
anti-ageing technology.
The Florida-based company announced that the new collaboration between the two companies, that concerns its anti-ageing technology MultiStat, will run until December 2010. "As the premier supplier to the cosmetics industry, BASF is the ideal partner to achieve MutliStat's exciting market potential," said CEO J. Ladd Greeno, adding that the rights to use the technology in anti-ageing products should help drive the company's success. MMP inhibitors MultiStat is based on a family of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitors - compounds that inhibit the production of MMPs. However, according to Quick Med Technologies BASF will be concentrating on only one of the patented compounds. MMPs are enzymes that break down extracellular matrix proteins, performing many diverse functions. Their role in skin ageing is due to the fact that they degrade both collagen and elastin, leading to a loss of elasticity and firmness of human skin. In addition, radiation with UV rays is known to increase MMP levels, leading to photo ageing. MMP inhibitors have, therefore, the potential to protect against wrinkles and fine lines as well as photoageing and a number of anti-ageing products now contain such ingredients. For example, fellow ingredients supplier Symrise has been evaluating a blackberry leaf extract that it claims inhibits MMP-1, which is thought to be responsible for the degradation of collagen I and II. Licensing agreement with University The MultiStat technology was originally developed by the University of Michigan with whom Quick Med Technologies signed a license agreement in 2007. It consists of over 10 patented compounds and patented formulae for developing other compounds.
