Biotech Firm Debut Is Getting Into the Contract Manufacturing Business

Debut is dipping its toes into the contract manufacturing business, with the goal of bringing biotech ingredients to the masses.

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After witnessing an increase in demand, especially among midsize beauty businesses, the San Diego-based biotech start-up is launching BiotechXBeautyLabs, a formulation development and contract manufacturing business for white-label products and custom formulations.

The new business division harnesses end-to-end services, including novel ingredient discovery, pre-clinical testing, formulation development, quality control production, and access to Debut’s IP portfolio consisting of more than 7,000 proprietary claims.

“BiotechXBeautyLabs democratizes access to biotech without which brands would have no means to choose the best for their products and the planet,” said Debut founder and chief executive officer Joshua Britton . “We know that beauty brands have been wanting to harness biotech for quite some time, but they didn’t have the expertise, proprietary ingredients, or ability to invest in the technology. Now, we are providing a viable solution by bringing biotech innovation to all.”

Demand for these services has surged over the past decade , driven by the exponential multiplying of indie beauty brands.

Britton estimated that the division will generate net revenue of $100 million in the next five years.

The announcement comes as Debut was revealed as the first recipient of an award by the Department of Defense as part of its program to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing in the U.S.

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Debut will receive $2 million to produce business and technical plans outlining the construction of a domestic bio-industrial manufacturing facility. This is aimed at expanding the domestic supply of ingredients and materials for U.S. national supply chains and bolstering the bio-industrial manufacturing base, as outlined in an executive order from President Biden.

If approved, Debut can receive a follow-on award of up to $100 million to build a U.S.-based bio-industrial manufacturing facility.

“By making these investments in domestic bio-production infrastructure, we are making a significant move toward fortifying the American industrial base,” said Dr. Aprille Ericsson, the assistant secretary of defense for science and technology, which falls under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “The DoD is committed to leveraging biotechnology to secure our competitive advantage and keep pace with the demand for next-generation capabilities for our warfighters and allies.”

This has been a busy month for Debut. In early July, it signed an agreement with L’Oréal to develop more than a dozen bio-identical ingredients that will replace conventionally sourced ingredients currently used in L’Oréal global beauty and personal care brands across skin, hair, color cosmetics and fragrance.

This was the first big joint announcement from the two companies since the beauty giant led a $40 million round of series B funding in the firm through its venture arm Bold in June 2023.

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