The company, which specialises in the research, development and manufacture of innovative active ingredients of plant origin for cosmetic, pharmaceutical and nutritional areas, says the active ingredient in the extract, verbascoside, is an effective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.
In addition, it has an inhibitory effect on 5-alpha-reductase, an enzyme that plays a role in acne and hair loss, the company claimed.
According to IRB, the patent opens up opportunities for its US clients working in the cosmetics, nutrition and pharmaceutical areas, and it anticipates similar consequences when the patent comes is granted for use within the EU.
Roberto Daltoso, R&D manager at IRB, told Nutraingredients.com that their extracts differ from competitors’ stem cell lines in that they contain more active ingredients, they have a defined and quantified biomarker and as the stem cell is combined with glycerol the need for preservative usage is eliminated.
The company uses what it refers to as its HTN technology to produce its phenylpropanoid enriched ingredients in industrial quantities.
Firstly a small amount of plant biomass is chopped into tiny pieces and placed in a culture medium, explained Daltoso.
Damaging the plant in this way causes the cells that surround the damage to de-differentiate (to turn back into stem cells) and form a wound healing tissue called the callus.
The callus is then harvested and grown in a cell culture medium and from this he said IRB obtains the plant stem cells and consequently the secondary metabolites it needs for its products, he explained.
Although the technology is well known, the challenge lies in successfully scaling up the production of the stem cells to industrial quantities, explained Daltoso – a problem the Italian firm claims to have solved with its HTN technology.