Salvona
Optimizing Active Ingredients through Encapsulation

When it comes to skincare, the most common challenge is to find the perfect formula that will not only give a brand a marketing edge, but also leave a long lasting impression on the consumers. Even though it is uncommon, Salvona offers exactly that. Founded 20 years ago in 1998 by Dr. Adi and Sam Shefer, two MIT chemical engineers, Salvona’s maxim is to bring academic research to market. Utilizing encapsulation technology to create turnkey dermatology solutions, Salvona enhances the performance of raw materials or active ingredients used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications.

Dr. Sam Shefer, founder and president of Salvona explains, “We don’t invent new active ingredients or drugs. We solve technical challenges and help with formulation and stabilization of actives.” This is done through the encapsulation of active ingredients on a sub micron scale. The cadre of experts at Salvona stabilizes an active ingredient by encapsulating them in a shell, providing protection against photo-sensitivity, moisture, or oxidation exposure to prevent untimely activation. The encapsulation technology optimizes the benefits of the actives within a product, minimizing the side effects considerably by engineering three essential ‘Ts’ in its process—timed, triggered, and targeted release.

For any cosmetic or pharmaceutical product, time is crucial. A long-lasting effect adds value to a brand, which is why Salvona’s encapsulation uses shells that gradually break down over a period to pace the active’s release process. The slow release eliminates mass unload of actives on application, as well as enables the body to respond to the harsh acids naturally over time.

Salvona also allows triggered release on the treatment area by incorporating a trigger factor such as moisture, heat, friction, or enzymes created by the infected area. However, the most essential feature of Salvona’s encapsulation is targeted delivery, which uses a smart shell to focus actives only on the infected local areas, preventing wastage on unnecessary points. “Encapsulation enables actives to release when it’s needed, where it’s needed, and for however long it’s needed,” says Shefer. This factor enables the clients to use less material while formulating and prevents wastage of actives.

Salvona also offers a subdivision service, Advanced Beauty Labs (ABL) for contract packaging and formula manufacturing to its core cosmetic and pharmaceutical clients in the Fortune 5000 list. ABL’s technology assists in customizing turnkey formulas, enabling bulk productions for clients that share the vision of advancing derma solutions but may be lacking the technological or manufacturing expertise.

Shefer shares an instance where Salvona changed the activation and delivery process of benzoyl peroxide (BPO)—a highly-unstable yet sought after commodity for anti-acne treatment. The client tested Salvona’s BPO against pharmaceutical grade BPO drugs in the market, such as clindamycin, and found it to be of superior quality. Salvona enabled the client to reduce development time and FDA costs, as well as improve user experience with the timed and targeted release of active ingredients.

“The synergy between chemistry, engineering, and biology bring forth an intuitive experience to our clients,” remarks Shefer. Furthermore, cognizant of its client’s brand reputation, Salvona approaches a problem by understanding the underlying cause and devising an effective plan through intense research to optimize a client’s solution.

Clearly, the effectiveness of Salvona’s intensive research reflects on its high success and numerous patents. To continue its innovation, the team of Salvona follows the market trends avidly and launches a new concept of finished products every six months, staying up to date with what is desirable on market. For example, Salvona’s latest endeavour is laying groundwork to enter the upcoming cannabidiol market. With all of their breakthroughs in encapsulation, it’s clear to see that Salvona is en route to becoming the go-to encapsulation provider in the industry.