Oxonica Launches Optisol

May 2003

A new product concept in UV protection and anti-ageing for sunscreens and cosmetics

Oxonica, the UK company operating in the exciting new area of nanotechnology, announced the launch of Optisol at In-Cosmetics, Paris on 1st April 2003. Optisol is an important new product concept in UV protection and anti-ageing. The technology, developed in association with the University of Oxford, works by absorbing damaging Ultra Violet radiation without the concurrent formation of free radicals, highly reactive chemical species which are implicated in skin ageing and cell damage. The vast majority of current UV absorbers used in sunscreens form free radicals following absorption of UV radiation. Anti-oxidants are currently added to most sunscreen products to try and neutralise the free radicals formed. Optisol eliminates the problem by not forming free radicals in the first place. This multifunctional product has also been shown to significantly extend the lifetime of other active components resulting in safer, longer lasting sunscreens.

Oxonica's patented process modifies the structure of the titanium dioxide or zinc oxide to create Optisol. This product, instead of generating a free radical every time a UV photon is absorbed, re-emits energy as a lower energy photon, which is in the harmless green part of the spectrum, and a tiny amount of heat. Neither the green light nor the heat is produced in sufficient quantities to be noticed during the process and the material returns to its original state ready to absorb and neutralise another UV photon - a cycle that can, in theory, continue indefinitely. As a result, sunscreen products made using Optisol will offer improved UV protection as free radical creation is significantly reduced, thereby reducing cell damage, skin ageing and breakdown of the other components of the sunscreen.

Kevin Matthews, Oxonica's CEO, commented: "Optisol is a multifunctional new product concept for anti-ageing and suncare products. It is a perfect example of technology being used to modify materials to create beneficial new properties. Oxonica's patented invention uses solid-state physics to solve the biochemistry problem resulting from the creation of free radicals. Optisol is the next generation of sun protection. It offers safer, better and longer lasting protection."

Oxonica is in discussions with several major sunscreen manufacturers to include Optisol in their sun care product formulations and anticipates that the first sunscreen products based on it will be available in 2004-2005. The company points out that sunscreen products still need to be applied frequently to combat the effects of sweating, physical abrasion, etc. that remove them and that caution needs to be exercised with regards to any exposure to the sun to prevent skin damage.

Optisol is a registered trademark of Oxonica Limited.

Notes to Editors

Oxonica Ltd

Oxonica is an exciting young company working in the field of applied Nanotechnology, science on the atomic scale, heralded by the USA's National Science and Technology Council as becoming "as socially transforming as the development of running water, electricity, antibiotics, and microelectronics". A spin-out from the University of Oxford in 1999, Oxonica is built upon intellectual property developed over seven years by Professor Peter Dobson and Dr Gareth Wakefield. Oxonica has gone on to add further intellectual property to its portfolio, and currently has 17 filed patents. Oxonica's proprietary techniques enable it to rapidly create prototype Nanoparticles, typically in the range of 5 to a few hundred nanometres, and evaluate the differences in their properties to identify Nanoparticles with appropriate functionality to solve a given problem. One nanometre is a billionth of a metre (0.000000001 metres) - one 100,000th the width of a human hair or around ten hydrogen atoms placed side by side.

Oxonica Ltd
Begbroke Science Park, Sandy Lane
Yarnton, Kidlington
Oxon OX5 1PF
T +44 (0)1865 856 725
E sales@oxonica.com
W www.oxonica.com

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Nigel Robson
Vortex PR
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E nigel@vortexpr.com