Combining Tradition with Technology for beauty care that goes beyond skin-deep: Momotani Juntenkan researches good bacteria to expand into health, skincare-supplements, and fiber materials
Cosmetics company Momotani Juntenkan had its beginnings 135 years ago selling acne-preventing face lotion “Nikibitori Bigansui”, recently, they’ve been focusing on the bacteria that naturally reside in the skin in order to develop their own ingredient “Flora Controller FC161”. This ingredient reduces harmful bacteria that can cause acne and dry skin and rebalances skin flora. However, they’re not just focused on using it in cosmetics, they’re also developing fibers that intertwine the new ingredient and supplements for better skin through research into skin and the intestinal environment.
Momotani Juntenkan was founded in 1885 by Masajiro Momotani, who inherited a 400-year-old pharmacy business and was the first licensed pharmacist in Wakayama Prefecture. The company’s first product was an acne face lotion, Nikibitori Bigansui, developed for the founder’s acne-suffering wife, and this was the first of its kind in Japan to incorporate the methods of Western medicine. This face lotion continues to be sold to this day as “ MEISHOKU Bigansui Skin Lotion (Medicated)” and is a long-selling household name.
the current MEISHOKU Bigansui Skin Lotion (Medicated)
In December 2014, the company established “Next R&D Laboratory” which would then go on to become the current “ Next Research & Innovation Labo”. This was an effort to search for a business that could become the company’s next strength and was driven by the company’s current President Seiichiro Momotani who believed it was necessary to think outside the field of cosmetics to bring about innovation. General Manager of Next Research & Innovation Labo, Teizou Sugino gathered information by visiting trade shows and seminars and while doing so his attention was caught on the resident bacteria of the skin.
There are over 200 kinds of resident bacteria that regularly exist on our skin. These include cutibacterium acnes, staphylococcus epidermidis, and staphylococcus aureus. In particular, staphylococcus aureus harms the skin’s barrier function, and its connection with atopic dermatitis (eczema) is also widely reported. On the other hand, staphylococcus epidermidis is known to help control staphylococcus aureus and is frequently detected in healthy skin.
When the potent antibacterial agent benzoyl peroxide (BPO) was approved by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in 2015, acne treatment in Japan’s field of dermatology started to progress at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, laboratory chief Sugino noticed how bacterial flora in the intestine and the skin was now able to be researched more thoroughly due to information on side-effects from BPO users and the rapid evolution of computer science. Sugino believed that acne treatment could perhaps be reexamined from the perspective of bacterial flora research and thus started a project into such research.
“When talking of acne comes up it’s about cutibacterium acnes, which is very much seen as the harmful actor. However, in truth cutibacterium acnes makes up around 80% of naturally occurring bacteria that exist in areas where seborrhea occurs, and there’s research stating that only a small amount of cutibacterium acnes is linked to causing acne. Also, there’s still a lot that remains unknown about staphylococcus aureus, which harms the skin’s barrier function.” (Sugino)
The laboratory went on to develop the original ingredient “Flora Controller” which selectively reduces only the bacteria that has a harmful effect on the skin to rebalance skin flora. This world-first technology was also presented at an international conference.
The first cosmetics product developed that uses Flora Controller FC161, one of the ingredients resulting from the research, was “MEISHOKU Moist-Labo Flora”, which was released by affiliate Meishoku Corporation in August 2019. It featured a series of base makeup products that selectively reduced harmful bacteria and rebalanced bacterial flora to increase moisture in the skin and maintain that moistness. Based on this capability, the product was branded with the concept of “skincare while you apply makeup”.
Then in February 2020, Meishoku released the skincare brand “MEISHOKU REPAIR & BALANCE” targeting people with sensitive skin that fluctuates depends on internal and external influences, and these products also contained Flora Controller FC161. Several months after its release, sales were showing good signs, with monthly sales figures achieving 122% on average. Then, even though there was a drop in sales due to shops temporarily closing for the COVID-19 pandemic, monthly sales achievements went up to around 205% right after they released additional two intensive care items in September.
The applications of the Flora Controller technology aren’t limited to just cosmetics. In 2018, Momotani Juntenkan was successful in creating the new “Moist Fiber” that intertwines Flora Controller FC161 in joint development with Omikenshi Co., Ltd. In 2019, a patent of the technology was filed.
In testing Moist Fiber, they inserted the same amount of staphylococcus epidermidis and staphylococcus aureus, and then after 18 hours compared the bacterial volume. The staphylococcus aureus had reduced down to 10.1%, while the staphylococcus epidermidis increased up to 89.9%, meaning they had been able to control the balance of bacteria. They also conducted tests where they attached Moist Fiber to the skin for four hours and afterward discovered that the skin moisture had increased to around 1.4 times the amount.
The Next Research & Innovation Labo used Moist Fiber to develop a cloth-based facial mask that can create a moisturizing effect just by wearing it and is selling it on crowd-funding platform Makuake (until November 29, 2020). Along with this, a variety of fiber-based products including undergarments and bedding are currently in development.
As a derivative of their research into resident skin bacteria, the laboratory is currently researching the relation between skin and intestinal bacteria. In partnership with an intestinal bacteria research startup, they analyzed the skin parameters (amount of moisture, elasticity, etc.) of women in their 40s and 50s, as well as their diet, living environment, and bacterial flora of their skin, bowels, and mouths. In doing so they found that those who had good skin despite their age also had great numbers of three kinds of intestinal bacteria that produce substances that have a similar effect to female hormones. From this, they developed the ingredient “Flora Controller ISR” that can control intestinal bacteria flora to increase these three kinds of bacteria and in September 2019 applied for a patent.
They created the RF28 Inner Skin Beauty Flora Supplement that contains Flora Controller ISR and compared skin parameters and intestinal bacterial flora before taking the supplement and after taking it continuously for a month. They found that the intestinal bacterial flora had changed. Not only were the three intestinal bacteria that are linked to good skin more abundant, but the skin’s outer layer moisture also increased by around 30% and the elasticity by around 8%. Sugino points out that “to intake the ingredients of Flora Controller ISR by eating regular food instead, you would have to eat 29 tomatoes and 7 oranges per day. However, by just taking this supplement you can get that intake each day much more easily.”
Sugino spoke further about the process from R&D to product: “At Next Research & Innovation Labo, we’re conscious of doing things fast, starting small, and adjusting our route as we go along. In the future, we want to establish profitable businesses based on fields other than cosmetics. However, first, we’re trying to drive open innovation based on the latest information and potential new technologies that we see from universities, companies in outside industries, startups, and from both inside and outside Japan, and through this, we’re actively looking into new business models.”
Text: Ching Li Tor
Original text (Japanese): Lina Ono
