News

Symrise acquires Italian biotech company

14 May 2019

Symrise has signed a contract to acquire the Italian biotech company Cutech in Padua.

The enterprise offers pre-clinical screening services for cosmetic ingredients and finished formulations. The purchase will, the company says, expand the expertise of Symrise in the efficacy testing of cosmetic ingredients and open new opportunities for collaboration with partners from scientific institutions.

It will also increase the go-to-market speed for novel active ingredients.

“Cutech constitutes the perfect fit for Symrise’s Cosmetic Ingredients Division. The highly specific R&D and biotechnology capabilities of Cutech optimally complement the research expertise of Symrise,” said Dr. Gerhard Schmaus, Head of Global Innovation Cosmetic Ingredients Division at Symrise.

“We have decided to closer collaborate with Symrise as both partners can benefit from the union. Symrise acquires considerable know-how in the prediction of the effectiveness of cosmetic ingredients. Cutech will benefit from the broad research base at Symrise and its technological resources. This will lead to a faster development of effective cosmetic ingredients. We look forward with excitement to our joint projects,” said Dr. Paolo Pertile, CEO at Cutech.

The biotech company, founded in 2002, specializes in pre-clinical screening services based on proprietary ex vivo skin, sebaceous gland and hair models. Cutech also contributes IP on natural ingredients, such as micro algae to supplement the Symrise portfolio.

“The joining forces of Symrise and Cutech will make the development of new proprietary analysis and prediction models for cosmetic ingredients easier and faster. Such models will strengthen the leadership of Symrise Cosmetics Ingredients and will position it one step ahead of the competition”, said Eder Ramos, President Cosmetic Ingredient Division. “For our customers, adding pre-clinical testing to our service portfolio will definitely constitute a plus during their product development. In addition it will also enable us to further expand our biotech network, thus accessing new, cutting-edge technologies.”