SKIN WHITENING WITH FASTEST RESULTS
Pharmaceutical company Brady Pharma says the antioxidant in Thiocell also has anti-aging benefits. It’s also good for the liver.
Iadmire those who embrace whatever they’re born with as much as those who do something about what they’re not happy about. That includes those who desire to whiten their complexion. The real concern should be directed to whether the products being peddled to them are actually effective or even safe.
For all things whitening, glutathione is the top buzzword ingredient. As a supplement, it comes in the more prevalent capsule and tablet forms, the inconvenient water-soluble powder form, the FDA-banned (since 2011) intravenous drip, and the dubious topical application. But as a candy-like lozenge that you can pop and melt in your mouth anytime to ingest whitening benefits? Here’s where it gets interesting.
Glutathione supplements aren’t even meant to inhibit melanin production in the first place. When Brady Pharma president and CEO Bernard Go approached the American antioxidant expert Dr. Theodore Hersh to come up with an oral product to complete his company’s range of dermaceutical offerings, Hersh’s over 20 patents in the development of glutathione and selenium products were mainly on anti-aging.
“It is really glutathione’s main function. It’s a master antioxidant. Anti-cancer, and it’s also good for the liver and infertility.” Go says. “With the glutathione he’s doing, whitening is just the side effect. So we asked him to do something with our brand that was more potent in whitening.”
Hersh came up with Thiocell, a glutathione complex lozenge containing 500 milligrams of L-Glutathione in a single dose (whereas a capsule can only fit 250), L-Selenomethionine, vitamins C, D, and E, and grape seed extract. Produced in the US, Philippine-owned Brady Pharma owns the rights to the formulation, the patent to the lozenge format, and exclusive distribution rights. The nearly two-decade-old pharmaceutical company has until now only carried dermaceuticals and optatherapeutic products. Even their upcoming release is a certified organic dermaceutical skincare line from the south of France, Jonzac.
Because of their track record in the community, Brady Pharma wanted their first consumer product to have evidencebased results. “There are a lot of studies already for the other health benefits of glutathione. We conducted studies on its whitening effect here because data on glutathione efficacy for skin whitening is not available,” Bernard reasons.
Even Hersh only speaks of its antioxidant benefits. “The composition of Thiocell is also the body’s anti-aging factor,” he says in a brief video presentation.
Brady Pharma launched Thiocell in 2014 to over 500 Filipino dermatologists as their test market. Go notes, “No doctors would carry the other brands being marketed because they know of the bioavailability issue.”
Brady Pharma business development manager Rome Maglalang elaborates, “Oral products have to pass the normal metabolic process, and in the process, most of the glutathione gets destroyed. Less than 20 percent would go to your skin. That’s why competitors can only say you see results only three to six months after continuous use.” Thiocell is in lozenge form in order to be absorbed through the buccal mucosa – the tissues that line the inner cheeks. Maglalang compares its mechanism to Catapres, a brand of clonidine used to treat hypertension. “By being placed under the tongue, the absorption is faster. It goes directly into your bloodstream. Around 80 percent of the product goes to your skin.”
Trying it out for myself, taking the lozenge is not unlike having a piece of candy. I dissolve it inside my mouth by placing it against the inner cheeks, then moving it side to side. Glutathione itself is known to have a sulfuric, rotten-egg taste, but I did not detect any foul flavor at all. Natural grape and raspberry flavors, the diabetic-friendly sweetener Stevia, and cavity-preventing Xylitol masked it well. The recommended dosage is at least once a day but can be increased by up to four.
To investigate its safety and efficacy for skin-lightening, Brady Pharma funded a study with Philippine Dermatological Society fellows Dr. Evangeline B. Handog, erstwhile president of the International Society of Dermatology and currently Asian Hospital’s Department of Dermatology chair, together with Dr. Ivan Singzon and Dr. Suzanne Datuin from St. Luke’s Hospital. Entitled “An Open-label study on the Efficacy and Safety of Oral Glutathione (Lozenge) as a De-pigmenting Agent among Filipinos,” Thiocell was tested on 30 Filipino females with Fitzpatrick skin types IV or V (a.k.a.
kayumanggi to maitim) who received a lozenge for eight weeks. The doctors used a Mexameter, a machine with a hand-held wand that detects melanin content, to determine a decrease of melanin in their patients’ skin both with and without sun protection and they noted significant skin lightening in just two weeks. Proud of their findings, Brady Pharma submitted the study to the peer-reviewed International Journal
of Dermatology and it was published in February 2016, making Thiocell the only glutathione supplement in the world that has undergone clinicial trials published in that medical journal.
It launched in Watsons months later, making it Brady Pharma’s first over-thecounter product. “When we launched in Watsons, we had to come up with another variant, Thioderm, which has biotin added for hair growth, otherwise the dermas would not let us bring it to the pharmacy,” Go recalls with a laugh. A year later, Thiocell was awarded Most Successful New Product of the Year at Watsons Health, Wellness, and Beauty Awards 2017.
Thiocell has since expanded to offering a Made in Australia sunscreen while a product range of lotions and soaps, formulated due to public demand, is still being rigorously tested. “Maybe late this year or next year,” Go says. “For our brand extension, it won’t be glutathione. Glutathione cannot work as a topical. You’re just wasting the expensive glutathione if you apply topically.” Thiocell is also now in Vietnam, Cambodia, and India and is in the process of expanding to e-commerce in Hong Kong and Singapore. Maglalang shares proudly, “OFWs hoard it. We know because they ask us for a copy of FDA clearance before they can bring it abroad.”
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