18 INTERVIEW
TP: How do you control product quality? EM: We have very tight analytical controls on each step of the process. We have analytical methodology to check how much of the molecule we produce and the quality of the material that we produce. We run these things over and over and over again. We also look at the purity
profiles and the whole nine yards. We’re lucky in that there’s been a lot of beautiful work before us. In fact, insulin is a great example of a protein that has been made at scale for the last 30 years. Pharma does it, personal care does it, the food industry does it. The food industry are high
users of enzymes throughout the entire chain - everything from beer to bread to meat and dairy and everything in between. So, consistently making good quality enzymes is something that we have the benefit of at least 30 years of excellent science and established methodologies.
TP: Where are you based? EM: We are based in North Carolina, but we started out in New York as a Johnson & Johnson JLABS company based in Manhattan. During the pandemic, we moved to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.
TP: How many staff do you have at the moment? EM: We’re a little over 20 people.
TP: If CuraVia takes off will you continue to use contract manufacturers or would you look to bring production in-house? EM: We believe that we should really focus on where we have strengths, and we have extraordinary strengths in enzyme engineering and developing new, unique molecules. There are so many great partners out there that have steel in the ground with manufacturing expertise. We believe in partnering where
we can find excellence and really doubling down where we believe we have a unique advantage. But that may change as we bring more talent into the company.
TP: Who do you see as your direct competitors in this market? EM: There are lots of great companies out there, particularly in food. Food has been using protein or enzyme-based preservative technologies for quite a while.
PERSONAL CARE July 2023 “We don’t believe there’s a ‘one and done’ in preservation, we need a
lot more molecules in the space, and there’s plenty of room to play” Erika Milczek, chief executive of Curie Co
You can look at some of the
biggest enzyme producers out there. They’re doing a great job servicing the cheese market in particular, and some dairy. Lactoferrin is a really great example of an enzyme used in the food industry. What we’re trying to do is bring
that out of food and get it into more chemical-relevant applications. There are some great companies that are making bio-identical molecules or using fermentation to replace synthetic ingredients. There are a lot of technologies
that are one-for-one [replacements], we love those technologies. But, for us, we don’t think we could hit the price point the customer needs with a one- for-one. I know a lot of people think about technologies as being
competitive, but we’ve worked incredibly hard to make sure that our enzyme is complementary to the existing palette of preservatives. We don’t view entering the market as replacing preservatives that are out there. We’d like to displace or make them more effective. We have beautiful synergies
across the palette of many different types of molecules that are on the market. We don’t believe there’s a ‘one and done’ in preservation, we need a lot more molecules in the space, and there’s plenty of room to play.
TP: Are you looking at other industries than personal care? EM: We’re very focused on personal care initially but there are a number of markets that we’ll approach after that, such as food.
TP: Do you have any other personal care products in the pipeline? EM: We have some pretty exciting technology with UV filters for sunscreens that complements existing technology on the market. We have some really fun stuff around being able to leverage dermatologically-relevant proteins and matrix those with different actives so that you get a long- lasting, sustained use for those molecules. So, we have some pretty
exciting technology, but I will again say we are laser focused on getting into the market and delivering good preservatives. Our goal is to deliver good
preservatives for companies facing an ever-dwindling list of options. They need more molecules, and we’re trying to get those to market as quickly as possible.
PC
www.personalcaremagazine.com
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