SHANGHAI: With rapid development and a promising future, cosmetic companies are stepping into China’s biotech industry.

In 2022, Hangzhou-based cosmetics company Proya invested in Shenzhen, Guangdong province-based Siyomicro Bio-Tech Co Ltd.

Later on, it signed a strategic partnership with Zhejiang Peptites Biotech Co Ltd, working on innovative peptide research and development, peptide green synthesis, and raw material production and supply, demonstrating its latest efforts in using synthetic biology to reconstruct the upstream raw materials of the medical aesthetics industry.

Coincidentally, after Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido established its fund company in China in May 2022, the first enterprise that it invested in was Jiangsu Trautec Medical Technology Co Ltd, a local company that focuses on the development and production of recombinant collagen-based biomaterials.

“More and more cosmetics giants are entering the biotech industry as venture capitalists, gradually shaping the application of biotech in the medical aesthetics industry.

“Ideally, they hope to create a hyaluronic acid-like best-selling product in the next decade,” said Zhao Hongwei, a biotech analyst at VBData.cn, a Chongqing-based online healthcare service provider.

The two major bestsellers in China’s biotech industry are hyaluronic acid and collagen. China is the world’s largest hyaluronic acid-selling country. Hyaluronic acid is a natural substance found in eye and joint fluids and acts as a cushion and lubricant in the joints and other tissues.

 - China Daily