Aquapharm signs research collaboration agreement with specialty chemicals firm

The marine biotechnology company Aquapharm Biodiscovery Ltd of Oban, Scotland announced the signing of a collaboration and license agreement with the specialty chemicals manufacturer Croda International.

The three year collaboration will provide Croda with an exclusive license to novel marine-derived natural products identified from Aquapharm’s proprietary microbial library, for use in topical cosmetic applications in skin and hair care.

Under the agreement Aquapharm will use its proprietary assays to screen its library of marine microbes for cosmetic ingredients. The company will receive funding from Croda to conduct the research, along with milestone payments and royalties on commercialisation of any resulting products. Further financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Andrew Mearns Spragg, CEO of Aquapharm said, “We are very pleased to have entered into this collaboration with Croda, a leading player in the supply of specialty chemicals into the personal care market. This collaboration further demonstrates our leading position in developing new products from marine organisms and the breadth of applications of our library.

Aquapharm was founded in 2000 at the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology in Oban to develop new biologically active products from the marine microbes. The company has a substantial collection of marine bacteria and fungi obtained from samples collected from diverse marine habitats, including the arctic and the deep sea.