The agreement, which also gives Body Blue the opportunity to formulate and manufacture consumer products using the bioactive peptides, should help to develop the use of the ingredient in the all-important North American market, with the potential for it to break into other international markets at a later stage.
Helix BioMedix CEO, R. Stephen Beatty, said of the agreement with Body Blue. "They have built an impressive track record of delivering consumer products to the marketplace quickly. We believe that they have the potential of dramatically accelerating our time-to-market for many important, high-value products containing Helix BioMedix peptides. In addition, they provide us with significant expertise in formulation and manufacturing."
Canada-based Body Blue is a contract formulator and manufacturer of topical personal care and cosmetic products. Employing over 300 staff it produces, it produces a wide range of products for a number of leading cosmetic retailers in the industry using patented agreements for ingredients such as the one just struck up with Helix BioMedix. Currently it is working with companies such as Revlon, P&G and Avalon Organics and recently doubled the size of its manufacturing facility in Ontario.
As consumers become more and more demanding with regards the functionality of cosmetics, the formulation of cosmetics ingredients is, likewise, becoming increasingly complex. As well as non-allergic properties, peptides are known to be a safe active ingredient that blends well with other ingredients without causing undesirable reactions.
"Our major customers are demanding more premium products with safe and effective proprietary ingredients that cannot be copied," said David Elliot, president of Body Blue. "Our partnership with Helix BioMedix gives us access to a virtually unlimited number of actives to fill this growing market need."
Currently discussions are under way with a number of Body Blue's clients to target the ingredient in a number of cosmetics products.