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“Although it is rare, photosensitization is one of the critical human health endpoints that RIFM evaluates. Therefore, a non-animal test to assess photosensitization risk is key,” says Principal Scientist Gretchen Ritacco, MS. Ritacco leads the Phototoxicity endpoints for the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM). (Read a Q&A on phototoxicity with Ritacco here.)

As part of its mission to advance the science supporting fragrance safety, RIFM is extending its collaboration with biotech company SenzaGen on non-animal photosensitization testing. The extension includes a new SEK 1.5 million (or approximately 150,000 USD) grant to SenzaGen for testing fragrance materials with GARD® for photosensitization. SenzaGen’s GLP-certified laboratory in Lund is conducting the tests through the summer of 2022.

RIFM and SenzaGen have collaborated on several projects since 2020, and after a successful initial evaluation in 2021, RIFM decided to test an additional round of fragrance ingredients with GARD®skin Dose-Response.

“We are very proud to continue our collaboration with RIFM. The need to measure the photosensitization risk is significant for product development companies in the cosmetics and chemicals industries, which are two of the industries we prioritize,” says Peter Nählstedt, President and CEO of SenzaGen.

”We were very excited by the preliminary results with the GARD skin dose-response adapted for photosensitization. Continuation of this work was the logical next step,” says Ritacco.

GARD®skin Dose-Response provides quantitative information on the concentration at which a substance may induce an allergic response. The test materials are exposed to sunlight in one step to identify their photosensitization. The test enables RIFM scientists to determine the concentration of a fragrance ingredient safe for human use, which serves as crucial data in RIFM’s safety assessments.