Anita Quade sits down with Founding Director and CEO of CellResearchCorporation, Gavin Tan to learn of his career, CALECIM and the discovery of Cord Lining Conditioned Media.
Tell us what sparked your involvement in the skincare industry initially?
“A great coincidence really! My academic background is in law and I spent over 20 years in finance. Although I have always been interested in the skincare industry as a consumer, it was the discovery of the platform technology that powers CALECIM which sparked my involvement from a business point of view.”
You are the founding Director and CEO of the CellResearch Corporation Group – tell us how you came to be in that role?
“My co-founder Professor Phan arrived in Singapore in 1997 to join the Department of Plastic Surgery at the Singapore General Hospital. In 1998, he met Dr Ivor Lim (my other co-founder), and together we established CellResearch Corp. This started as a simple contract research organisation that was doing research on skin cells for people like Harvard, GSK and Pfizer.
Dr Lim is a world renowned plastic surgeon and researcher and Prof Phan is a stem cell expert with 35 patients to his name and soon after the business was founded, Dr Lim and Prof Phan discovered the presence of stem cells in the outer lining of my son’s umbilical cord. As it turns out, umbilical cord lining stem cells from mammals such as red deer are the highest yielding, highest purity source of stem cells known to man!
This innovation is globally patented to CellResearch and is the technological advantage that underwrites all of our products.”
What do you love most about the position?
“This technology has incredibly diverse applications and as a result every day is varied with lots of different things moving in different directions and at different speeds.
To give you an example, we have a developed a biologic drug product that uses the live stem cells to treat a deadly condition which affects 25% of diabetics called Diabetic Foot Ulcers. Separately available in Australia and New Zealand, we have CALECIM which we believe is the most powerful topical antiageing solution on the market and last year we discovered that this technology is also an incredibly powerful hair restoration solution for people suffering with hair loss.
So, every day is different, and it feels as if the work we do has the potential to make a significant difference in people’s lives.”
Any drawbacks?
“I think on the flipside of my previous answer, there feels like there is a lot of pressure for our team to maximise the potential of this incredible discovery. When the potential applications are so broad
it is sometimes difficult to decide what to prioritise- but it is a good problem to have.”
The company’s original remit was to provide skin and scar cells to laboratories around the world for research, as well as to perform contract research for skin research laboratories internationally. In 2004, scientists isolated Epithelial and Mesenchymal Stem Cells from the Umbilical Cord Lining Membrane. Tell us about this and the discovery?
“We now have patents granted globally for a whole range of intellectual property related to the original discovery of cord lining stem cells. We have been working hard to optimise and refine the manufacturing processes, cell growth media, extraction, and storage techniques for cord lining stem cells of red deer. All these things have been judged patentable in all major markets. This means that we are the only company in the world who can legally commercialise cord lining stem cell products.”
Why was it so ground-breaking?
“The discovery of cord lining stem cells is a huge step forward for stem cell therapy and stem cell derived products in general for a few reasons. Firstly, although stem cells have been heralded as a holy grail for treating disease for over 30 years, limited treatments have been approved by global regulators. This is largely because the other sources of stem cells have various limitations.
Stem cells from the umbilical cord are incredibly numerous, high purity, young (and therefore dynamic) and importantly they are immune privileged which means we can transplant a cord lining stem cell from anyone in the world onto anyone else in the world without the fear that the transplant will be rejected. All these features have wide ranging implications for therapeutics and cosmetics.”
How has it been a gamechanger?
“When it comes to cosmetic applications the discovery of this source of stem cells provides a real competitive advantage to clinicians and consumers. Because we can get 1000s of times more cells from an umbilical cord of red deer than we can from any other source, we are able to create products that contain unrivalled concentrations of stem cell exosomes (the extract of the stem cell) at an accessible price. If you wanted to make a cosmetic using stem cells from another source in the same concentrations, it would cost the consumer 10x as much. That is why CALECIM is so effective- it is cutting edge technology at accessible prices.”
What is one of your proudest achievements in your career?
“Treating patients with a life-threatening disease in our clinical trials and seeing positive results is special. These patients are disabled by chronic wounds and we were able to get them back on their feet.
I am also very proud of the work we have done with CALECIM- reading some of the reviews of the range gives me a lot of joy because for some people these products have been life changing. You can not underestimate the effect losing hair or ageing in general can have on an individual and so to be able to help thousands of people with this process is fantastic.”
Any big life lessons you have learnt along the way?
“There are no shortcuts. Nothing worth doing is easy and taking shortcuts will backfire in the end.”
Any advice to those starting out in the skincare industry?
“This industry is very competitive and there is plenty of snake oil out there. Be discerning, prioritise data but trust your gut.”
How have you seen the industry evolve?
“When I started out, stem cell and growth factor were dirty words and skincare was often a battle of marketing dollars. Nowadays, the environment is thankfully very different. Growth factors are sexy, and consumers are much more discerning when it comes to marketing – they want to know exactly what is in each product and how it is going to help them. I think there is also a recognition that innovation in skincare ingredients has been limited so when something truly innovative comes along there is a real appetite for it.”
“This industry is very competitive and there is plenty of snake oil out there. Be discerning, prioritise data but trust your gut.”
With more than 22 years experience behind you tell us how CALECIM® was launched?
“CellResearch started life as a biotech company- when we discovered cord lining stem cells our first thought was to develop a therapeutic to help people suffering with disease. However, drug development is a famously long and expensive process, so we looked for ways of funding this venture leveraging the platform technology. We knew how powerful the technology was on wounds so we thought it might work to help treat the visible signs of ageing- turns out it works as a cosmetic incredibly well.
Every bottle of CALECIM sold helps fund life changing research.”
What is the line’s stand out feature?
“The underlying technology is patented and incredibly powerful it is called: Cord Lining Conditioned Media.
It is a compound that contains over 3,000 proteins, including growth factors and cytokines, derived from ethically harvested red deer cord lining stem cells. It directs ‘Youth Messages’ to help skin restoration, increase skin turnover and stimulate the natural production of hyaluronic acid for a plumping and firming effect.”
Who is the CALCEIM client?
“CALECIM clients are generally Plastic Surgeons, Aesthetic GPs, MediSpas and Dermatologists. Our products are designed to be used in-clinic to visibly improve post procedure recovery and at home as maintenance. The range is also widely adopted as a daily anti-ageing skincare treatment.”
With so much competition in the skincare market how do you manage to stay ahead of the competition?
“Our competitive advantage will always be our technology. It is patented, research-backed and incredibly efficacious. We are a biotech company first and foremost.”
Are there any other skincare innovations in the pipeline?
“We are always adding new products to our range as and when the market demands it. All our products contain high concentrations of Cord Lining Conditioned Media but we are always looking at novel ingredients to combine it with if they meet our high standards for efficacy.
We are also constantly finding new applications for the technology- as I mentioned hair restoration has been an incredibly exciting new avenue and the results have been spectacular. Next year there will be quite a few new products launching; watch out for our Eye Cream launching in 2023, we are very excited about that.”
This article originally appeared in the September-October 2022 print issue of Professional Beauty.
Read the current issue of our digital magazine here:
- For more news and updates, subscribe to our weekly newsletter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Like us on Facebook
- Join Australia’s largest network of beauty industry professionals on LinkedIn
- Subscribe to our print magazine
Have an idea for a story or want to see a topic covered on our site and in our pages? Get in touch at info@professionalbeauty.com.au.