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Innovative Ingredients in Skincare · The Science of Skin

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Skincare Confidential, the podcast supporting the Science of Skincare Summit, occurring September 5th through the 7th, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Dr.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Ted Lane.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a board certified dermatologist and your host for today.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so excited to announce and introduce my guest, Mr.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Zubine Meshkinpush.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Zubine is the CEO of Sente Labs, which is a small but growing skincare company that has a really interesting novel ingredient called a heparin sulfate analog.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Zubine, thank you so much for being with us.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's my pleasure to be here, Dr.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Lane.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh come on, just call me Ted.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: So uh we've known each other for a while.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, Zubine, man, we we see each other all around the world, which is a lot of fun.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Zubin, tell us about like your joint your journey into skincare and then with with Sente in particular.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um I mean I it's been a fun trip.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it started really, I carried a bag in pharmaceutical sales and had worked my way up a little bit more on the pharma side.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then a friend of mine was a uh partner at a small boutique private equity group, and this was back in 2008.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: And he called me up and said, Hey, I've got an opportunity for you.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's a small business uh free to run that would be great, great fit, and it was in aesthetics.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so I jumped at the chance, and it was a great just growth opportunity for me.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh that business was the Biocorneum Scar product.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: We also had like a consumer division.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we had that business for eight years, uh, had some great success there, some different exits off of it.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: And uh when we wrapped that up, and I ran a couple other businesses and a second fund and a third fund for them, but always missed aesthetics.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the people, the people in it, not just on the industry side, but I mean with the physicians, people like yourself.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's just a fun space.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: People are happy to be in it.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's always a lot going on.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's always you know, kind of more at the forefront of innovating things.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and I had been advising a couple companies, and so and Sente was one.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so when I knew hey, I wanted to get back, I reached out to uh then the CEO and a couple of the board members that I knew just to say, hey, you know, I want to get back into aesthetics, I'm gonna start interviewing and find find my home.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, well, don't look any further.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Come here.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I'd known, I'd known Sente for a while, uh, love the people.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the most important thing.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Know the products, had been using them myself, so I knew the products, great products.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so when you have that kind of operation where people are great, products are great, you know.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it just made all the sense in the world.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So how did you make the jump then, just going back from pharmaceutical sales into like C-suite leadership?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: That that's that is not a common jump.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: No, it was it it's not.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, some of my interesting background, I cut off the before that, but I was an operations manager at UPS as I uh got my undergrad and graduate degree, and um and so kind of had that operational background and kind of the back end side of things in general, um, and and also through schooling, I had gotten an MBA and then uh masters of science in corporate finance.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of had had some of that book knowledge and theoretical knowledge, if you will.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so, you know, and of course, my friend being my friend, he was someone I've known my whole life, and uh, we're still very close.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's a mentor of mine.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: And he knew he could, you know, he could put me in, give me an opportunity, uh, underpay me to a certain degree, and let me prove myself, you know, and beat on me pretty good.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: But he knew he could trust me and because we've known each other forever.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just one of those, uh it was a great opportunity, and that's really where I got to cut my teeth in the right size business with you know him there, with oversight in that company.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I was very fortunate, very lucky to do that.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, and it's one of those, if you if if you want to learn and you want to just understand things and figure things out and be able to do a lot of different things, then um it felt like a natural kind of leap, even though I was just doing more of just sales and marketing.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, thankfully I had some of those that other knowledge and background that at least I knew a little bit and at least knew the questions to ask.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So now you're leading this company, right?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And we see you guys everywhere.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: You have great staff, you've got amazing people working for you.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: You you can tell you've built an incredible culture there that that really have everybody rowing in the same boat in the same direction, uh, which is not cannot be said for all companies for sure.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and as you look at, you know, Zubine, you you are as a CEO, you've got to look at macroeconomic forces going on.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And one of those is is the tariffs, right?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Especially for skincare companies that may be exposed to to packaging from China or maybe even raw ingredients from China.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And and how how is that affecting your company or how might it affect your company as you think about the the near and long-term future?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's I mean, it's certainly an interesting time.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we're fortunate that so we manufacture everything in the states with um manufacturing partners, which is good.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um components, as you hit on, components do typically come from overseas.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um for us, we're fortunate that, you know, in my opinion, one of the better component suppliers is uh in South Korea, um, where it wasn't such a you know it's kind of a escalating trade war, if you will, or tariff war.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so uh things look decent there.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's still that 10% base uh while they're negotiating, and hopefully things you know come down from there or stay there.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um so in the grand scheme of things, um for us, because we're not sourcing our components from China for the most part, um we're not greatly impacted.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when you look at overall cost of goods and and with some of the kind of the pause happening and all that, and then when you think about, okay, if it sticks, when does it hit?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, so our approach really has been, you know, we're gonna wait and see how this plays out because it would think, or at least I I think, and our board thinks, that in just kind of reading as much as I can in general on that topic, it seems like it will come back some.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we are lucky.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, our the person who, our director of operations, she's worked in sourcing in this industry for I think almost 40 years.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: So she knows like all the different suppliers and secondary and third suppliers if need be, and and you know, components that are compatible.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: So thankfully we've got you know a good person on board too to help us navigate that.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And in terms of your packaging and and uh uh shipping and all of that, is that done, is that purchased here or is that how does that work?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, as far as like so with with the components that come in, those, you know, we um as I mentioned, South Korea, but then everything else is done here in the States.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: So you know the the manufacturing, the packaging, the pack out, the cartons, all that stuff.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um so overall, like I said, not not a massive impact.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the bigger impact really is uh consumer confidence and behavior, right?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: That that um impacts people's finances potentially and their willingness to to spend on on medical grade skincare.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and let's talk about kind of the the beauty industry as a whole.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Allergen just reported their first quarter sales numbers and and they they weren't great.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we we know as an industry fillers are down, filler sales are down.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's a a huge amount of of competition now with within the toxins.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But how is skincare doing?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: How is skincare faring after Q1 and and in this kind of uncertain economic climate?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Skincare is still growing overall.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think I was at a conference a few weeks ago, and the president of L'Oreal uh skincare in the US was up uh on podium and shared some market stats, and and from you know, all the market data that's out there seems like maybe up five, six percent as a whole.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when you look at more like medical grade skincare, that bucket, like the more premium that we're talking about.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he also presented an interesting fact that kind of dovetails into what you were talking about, which is you know, it's the the aesthetic patient is visiting the practices almost one time less per year on average.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and you you see that, and it's and you know, it being around us, it makes sense.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And even my wife that does like the toxins, like you know, yeah, instead of going every three months, go every four months, and there's your one less visit.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and for us, and that's one less, you know, one less opportunity to capture that patient and and have them purchase some skincare in the practice.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, so what we've seen, thankfully though, we had a very we had a good Q1.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think we because we're still small and we are growing and we made some investments over last year.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it is a resilient space in general, and people will go seek it out and find it.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we had a nice Q1, um, which was good.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: So a nice start to the year.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as as you see these patients coming into the offices less frequently, that makes the the virtual digital platform so much more important for y'all.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and yet you can kind of get lost in the haze of of skincare on an on an Amazon platform, for example.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh how do you how do you figure out how to to really make your brand stand out in that kind of a climate and in in that kind of a distribution platform?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean I it it's a great question.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: And for us, it it really starts in the practices.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So even if they they might be going less, um you and your staff are gonna be the best educators for those patients to really understand, you know, what why, you know, okay, this is just a higher price point, but what goes into this?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: And oh, these are really, you know, these are well thought out ingredients that have been researched, and then together, these companies, you know, like uh like Sante, we do, you know, clinical studies on the end product as well, not just say, oh, well, this ingredient's been studied, but we do studies on the product to show the benefits to the patients.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: And they're gonna trust you the most and your staff.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so for us, the effort's still there to educate and they get introduced to the brand um in the practices still.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then in between those visits, if they're stretching it a little bit, then they can replenish, you know, on our site or you know, wherever else.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: But it's really like to build our brand and talk about our brand, it's it's leveraging people like yourself and the aestheticians that you work with, um, so that we know we've got a patient that's educated and and will spend.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then we just have to make sure that they can you know find it wherever that is uh in between those visits if they're not going as frequent.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I also noted, Zoubeen, that you guys are are pushing it for international sales now.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're in the UK, which which we know.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's really exciting.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and can you talk through how you made that decision to go international, what kind of investment that included, and and kind of how if if you were kind of mentoring a young company with a young CEO, what what would you tell them about going international with their with their products?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, I would say wait until they start knocking distributors are knocking on your door.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Or and we were fortunate enough that uh and you mentioned we have a proprietary novel novel molecule that I mean you'll only find in our in our brand.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: And people like that, it's different, right?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so when people are giving talks about different molecules in skincare overseas at some of these things like MCAS and all that, um they'll mention, oh, you know, there's this company Cente, and they have this heparan sulfate ingredient, and this is what it does.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you start getting this interest.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so for us, you know, being small, we still, I mean, we focus on the US market.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but uh you know, we in when we get distributors reaching out, uh, then it's a process.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you want to make sure that they're established and you know, they have uh a team built out as well, that they can represent the brand that you want the way you want it to, um, speak about it the way you want it to, and they'll use like your you know, your marketing materials and you and and your talking points so that it's the same brand everywhere.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh maybe nuanced for for you know specific countries like we're in Singapore and Vietnam, and so there might be a little bit change in how they talk about it because of language translation.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: But for a whole, as far as the images and everything and what what we want to stand for as a brand, it sticks.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just wondering, Zubine, I don't know the answer to this, but but you certainly will.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a licensing or is it just a distribution agreement when you work with the distributors like uh overseas?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it typically just a distribution agreement.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um you can get into uh either licensing or agreement or even creating subsidiaries, which I know some skincare companies bigger have done.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um and a lot of times it's you know, because they've got the wherewithal that they can also have like an office there themselves and maybe staff and help run the sub or have somebody somebody in there.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um but for us and and the businesses I've been with in the past, it's a straight distribution agreement.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, got it.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Which makes the most sense, quite frankly, to me.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, as an outsider looking at that makes the most sense.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it is Southeast Asia kind of a a normal first place in the UK, or are those kind of very common entree uh points for international sales?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, definitely the UK.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I outside of the US, when you go in the European markets, they uh I mean that's the next biggest.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um but for us and with our molecule, and then we also have a a you know a secondary molecule we pair with it, um, in some of the studies we've done around our product in general is with facial redness or even with pigmentation.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was really driving the the um getting the attention of those in Southeast Asia.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: And they were reaching out to us because oh, we see this data, you know, some of the your products and the studies that they're talking about with hyperpigmentation or you know, with facial redness.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um we we have that in our country.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us more.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: So okay, so this is making sense.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: So the distributors come to you because they see the business opportunity for your products there, and that's how they're going to be successful.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it really that that limits your downside, doesn't it, when the distributor comes to you with the market already planned out for you.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's that makes a lot of sense.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if you know, and if there's people out there wanting to start a skincare company, going, oh, I want to go everywhere, or go deep and with distributors.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, to me, I I you know, some people want to just say, okay, you've got to take all 14 SKUs or whatever it is, or go, but then that's a that's a big investment for them, right?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're purchasing three to six months worth of inventory from you, they've got to warehouse it and everything.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: And if and if you're trying to say, no, I want you to have the whole line, that's a massive investment.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: That if you said, well, no, just focus on like our three, four core SKUs, the hero SKUs, because we know these are successful.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's less inventory they have, that's more money that they can put towards selling and marketing your brand and really building it.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then as they grow it, then they can start to bring on other SKUs that make sense for their patients.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: No, that makes total sense.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so let's just dive into to kind of Sente's products because I think they are so unique.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that heparin sulfate analog is such an interesting ingredient, right?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Heparin sulfate is is a glycosaminic glycan, so it's it's located in the dermis, your second layer of your skin, which is responsible for giving your skin kind of the turger and the firmness that we all attribute to youthful skin.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's where the blood vessels are, where the nerves are.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so it needs to be healthy and thick.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and the heparin sulfate analog, the heparin sulfate themselves itself is a is a very large molecule, right, Zubine?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: So if you were to apply just heparin sulfate to the skin, it probably wouldn't penetrate.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it would not.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: But the the key here is that third word, which is analog, right?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you could could you just kind of review what the the analog of heparin sulfate does?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: So the analog, so our Santa interesting history was founded by these uh a couple of PhD scientist folks that used to own a manufacturing facility where they were making biotech ingredients.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: These are biotech executives, and uh and part of their kind of secret sauce was this process where they were taking large molecules and changing the size and shape and polarity, or you know, basically taking a snippet of the native molecule and allowing it to then and by doing so, allowing it to penetrate topically, yeah, but making sure that you that snippet that you take is the key piece that has those essential properties, so that it's still going to behave like the native molecule.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what they were able to do.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's what the patents are around, really, is taking that large molecule, changing the size, shape, and polarity, allowing it to penetrate topically.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then the very cool thing about that you know, we really pride ourselves in it is the clinical work.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so before launching it, when we had our first product and formula, um you know, kudos to these guys because they knew they didn't know.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so they reached out to a research dermatologist named Rich Gallo and said, Hey, this is what we've done.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Do we have something?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, if it really does penetrate and get to the dermis, as you mentioned, and has the same biological activity as endogenous heparan sulfate, then yes, you've got something.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was that those were the first studies done was to prove that out.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: And he led uh you know a group of dermatologists, but he was the lead researcher on that, uh, published in the JDD back in I think 2015.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's an interesting uh molecule because yes, it's a glycosaminoglycan, but it has these kind of signaling capabilities as well to almost act like a growth factor.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so much like with everything else in the skin, nothing just has one function, right?
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: This has multiple functions.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that key ability to get something that acts as a larger molecule but is able to penetrate is is really the foundational ingredient of the brand and the science of the brand.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: But you have kind of added other ingredients to it.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I guess the most uh interesting one that you've done is is added cysteamine uh to a couple of your products.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, cysteamine is uh also interesting.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's an amino acid, right?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Systeamine is is is an amino acid, but it helps lighten the skin and brighten the skin uh as well.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Can you just talk us through that?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's as you said, it's an amino acid.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that um is found in you know uh in human tissues, actually in breast milk in most the highest concentrations.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: So something our bodies are is very familiar with.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: And the way it works uh is uh and you you'll be able to describe it much better because you've got the heavy science background that I don't, but essentially it's working on multiple steps in the melanogenesis cycle.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: So uh being it actual production of melanin or the process where it transfers up to the epidermal layer of the tissue where we see it, yeah, it's helping to inhibit some of those steps.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: So there's it's multi-functional in the way it works, uh, but gentle as well.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Again, it's something that's in our bodies, so it's working with our bodies just to really help to downregulate the amount of melan that ends up, melanin that ends up getting produced and coming up to the surface where we see it.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um so not toxic like um, you know, like some other molecules that might be there that do that are effective as well, but maybe you have to use periodically and then go off of them and on, or they might be photosensitive.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have those issues with systeming.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's a really interesting uh lightning molecule because of exactly what you said, its ability to affect multiple with one molecule to affect multiple steps in melanogenesis and melanosome transfer makes it pretty unique.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Usually when we when you look at other lightning or brightening creams, you'll see uh multiple ingredients included to affect all the different steps of the pathway that both produce the pigment and then transfer that pigment from the melanocyte, which is a cell that makes the pigment, to the keratinocyte, which is where it needs to be for us to see the pigment itself.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's uh you know, here you're you're able to do that with just one ingredient, which makes it incredibly powerful.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you're also able to package it with that heparin sulfate analog, which again has all these other great benefits to the skin.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: I can I use uh your dermal repair cream every night.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I use it alongside my retinoids, and I I find it incredibly uh beneficial to limit the irritation of the retinoids, but also to harness the power of that heparin sulfate analog as well.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: So so I'm a I'm a true believer in this stuff as well.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Um interesting though, Zubine, I don't think you guys have a sunscreen in your in your line yet, do you?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: We we do now.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um it you know, and I will uh you know I people will laugh at them and say this.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sente used to off and on have sunscreens, and and I will be honest with you, they were never really that good.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so I I think maybe two years ago we form we went into formulation again, and I said, I don't know why we're doing this.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um but we got it right.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, good.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: We we we did get it right, and it and it's uh quickly climbing uh the ladder as far as you know some of our more popular SQUs.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um we do it in two different uh tints, so like a uh a light to medium tint and then a medium to dark tint.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh huh.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that helped kind of blend it in and help to can even skin tone, and it does a great job uh really blending with the natural tones and hues of our skin.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um I actually use it myself, and usually men don't, you know, they style shy away from tinted sunscreens.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: I use the light to medium.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: You can't tell I've got anything on as far as you know it it's sunscreen, let alone tints.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um doesn't come off on my shirt, collars, or anything like that.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it's got a just a fantastic feel, and it has that heifer and sulfate analog in there as well.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that hero ingredient permeates through the entire line.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Then I'm I'm just on your website and I see that you've got the hydrate plus serum.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't spoken about that, but I was just at this event for Ulta, the Ulta store event where they have all of their vendors come in uh at for a big event once a year, and and everyone was talking about serums and how serums are just walking out of shops, right?
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're essentially being stolen.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and because they are so popular right now.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the again, your hero ingredient is in there, but you acknowledge the fact that hyaluronic acid is like the hottest ingredient right now as well, for some reason.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so you got your hyaluronic acid serum with heparin sulfate analog as well, and so you've got a sulfated and non-sulfated glycosamine glycan.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's an interesting combination, also.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're just not gonna find that other places, yeah.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I I've got to make sure I send you some because it's it it feels so good going on.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: I can honestly say like that's part of my regimen too.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I tend to no I it's certainly not oily skin, normal to sometimes dry.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's just that great hydration booster with four different molecular weight HAs, so you can get hydration throughout the tissues, but then all those additional benefits of the heparin sulfate analog molecule of ours, uh, that just it it just feels phenomenal.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: We've only got a few minutes left, and I really appreciate everything that you've spoken to us about.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: We've reviewed a lot.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm just wondering, you know, again, as you put your CEO hat on and and you're looking towards the future, maybe three to five years out, what do you think is is kind of the biggest trend in skincare that that is actually gonna stick that that you'll think is that may actually kind of be the tip of the spear as as we move towards the future?
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, in I I think the thing that will stick is, you know, and it's such a buzzword, and I almost hate to say it, but like regenerative medicine, but truly like finding those ingredients that our bodies already either make or use and are familiar with.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: And just help to repair and get ourselves back to you know, the best that it can be.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Not overdoing it, not additive, not foreign to the body, but you know, that natural health in general, you're certainly seeing that trend towards it, and you know, away from like the fake plastic that you look so much, and really just saying, like, I just want to look, you know, I just want my skin to be the best that it can, right?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: And function the best that it can.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so those types of ingredients um that not just you know repair, but then get into kind of stimulating and turning on some of these cells that go dormant or just don't function as well, and then and then don't you know don't have all the great benefits to to maintain uh true skin health in what we see.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that is really where I think it will go.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so I know there's I mean it's we're just scratching it now with exosomes, and exosomes are very popular, and there's a lot that we don't know about them yet.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think the more that we learn uh and the more that people are hearing about it and flock to it, then the money's gonna go there, then we'll learn more, and we'll actually be able to dial in.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, what's you know, which ones do we need?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: What's the best source to get them from and what quantities and how do we do this in the right way that we're not, you know, um you know creating products that are crazy expensive for no reason, but but using the right amounts that that bring the right benefits to the skin.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, one could argue your your HSA, your heparin sulfate analog is a regenerative ingredient, the way it works.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's funny.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about that.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we don't, you know, we've never really used it.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: We've always talked about it more as a repair molecule.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it it kind of slots into that, hey, this is something that our bodies make.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: We make less of it over time.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: How do we how do we get it back in the skin so that we're just maintaining that that optimal environment that's in our skin?
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: So the body does what it does.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because the body, like the body's gonna be the best, you know.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: When our bodies are working at 100% in their top form, they're gonna be the best.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, our own bodies will make the best of us that we can, right?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: So how do we just help support that?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot of work on uh on on this issue.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I completely agree with you.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think that regenerative medicine needs to be taken seriously by dermatologists, by all specialties, quite frankly.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's a there's a patient demand for it that we incorporate that into our treatment plans, whether we're talking about aesthetic or actually medical.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And and I know of a couple of companies now that are working on kind of regenerative ingredients to affect inflammatory skin disease, also.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, we're seeing this in the aesthetic space, but we have to understand that we'll see it in the therapeutic space as well.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, completely.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so kind of understanding at at this level what's going on in the industry and and getting a foundational knowledge of uh the hallmarks of aging, for example, is so important for dermatologists and and other people in this space.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: So um I've been kind of lecturing on this on on podium for a couple of years now, trying to to to bang the the drum about this.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: And and I I think it sounds like industry is is realizing it also.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's it's gonna be really good.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: And and quite frankly, I think it's gonna push us away from some of these really difficult procedures that our patients need to go through for, for example, aesthetic rejuvenation.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you've ever done a a even a fractionated uh uh ablative laser procedure, it's not fun.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, we may be able to get to the point now with some of these incredible new technologies like HSA, which is penetrates the skin because of its size, yet is biologically active.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: And companies are doing some other really interesting things that you could just use some mild microneedling with some really good skincare and get changes that would mimic uh some of the more or most aggressive laser procedures.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's exciting to start thinking in that fashion.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's why, as I've been saying, I think the skincare industry is about at 50% of revenue of where it will be in in about 10 years, because we'll be able to really harness what the science and and progression of skincare will will do for our skin, and it's gonna push people towards that much more than maybe even injectables and lasers.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm excited about that.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I gotta tell you, I mean, industry and certainly myself, thank you and Patty, because you uh the work that you guys have been doing and with the Science of Skincare Summit and everything, it's really bring dedicating like you know significant time to skincare, which is such a big part.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, of course, if you can get patients to do it at home on a regular basis, that's gonna be some of the best you know supplement to all the work that you can do in the you know with with needles or fillers or some of those you know device modalities you're talking about, but every single day you need to be doing something.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so you guys have done a phenomenal job really growing your brand, the the science of skincare satellite, and now taking it internationally, which is fantastic, to really dedicate that time to educate people to say, no, this is this is where it's going.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: And we're and to your point, I mean, it's probably half of where, you know, from a revenue generating standpoint, uh is probably just half of where it's gonna be.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, it's always nice when we can end up in an agreement.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um Zubin, thank you so much for your time.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it and for sharing your thoughts on on everything from the economy to to regenerative medicine.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: We really covered a lot, but but I I count you as a friend and and thank you for for taking some time and to to be on the podcast.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: You guys, Sente Labs is the name of the company, Sente Labs.com, to check out their products.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: They really make some incredible different products for the skin.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I'm I'm a big supporter and fan.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: And and Zubine, thank you again.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: Ted, my pleasure, man.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: You bet, you bet.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so this is Skincare Confidential.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Ted Lane.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Please support us.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you like the content, subscribe, give us a five star rating, and refer us to your friends as well.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.