Aborted Baby Used to Make Anti-Wrinkle Cream

This story has been making the rounds this morning. When I saw the headlines, I found it hard to believe, but it's true. The company is "Neocutis," located right here in San Francisco, a spin-off of the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Fom the Neocutis "Technology" webpage:

"NEOCUTIS technology platform relies on the use of cultured fetal skin cells obtained from a cell bank for treating differing skin conditions.

The dedicated cell bank was originally established for wound healing and burn treatments using a single biopsy of donated fetal skin following a one-time medical termination. The cultured cells can be used to produce skin constructs for wound healing or can be incorporated as cell lysate in a topical carrier for use in dermatology and skin care."

From the Neocutis "Cosmeceuticals" wepage, comes a list of products and more information:

"NEOCUTIS Bio-restorative Skin Cream, JOURNÉE Bio-restorative Day Cream, LUMIÈRE Bio-restorative Eye Cream and BIO-GEL Bio-restorative Hydrogel are the only products to contain PSP®.

Through years of research, physicians discovered fetal skin has a unique ability to heal wounds without scarring. Inspired by this, medical researchers at the University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland created a biotechnology process to extract the rich proteins responsible for scarless wound healing from cultured fetal skin cells. A dedicated cell bank was established for developing new skin treatments using a single biopsy of fetal skin. Originally established for wound healing and burn treatments, today this same cell bank also provides a lasting supply of cells for producing NEOCUTIS proprietary skin care ingredient Processed Skin Cell Proteins (PSP®)."

And from the "Corporate History" page:

The “Laboratoire de Médecine Foetale” at the Medical School of the University Hospital of Lausanne has worked extensively with fetal cells since 1995 and resulted in several patent applications.

During the later part of 2002, experienced business people joined the team of physicians and biologists working at Lausanne University to found Neocutis.

The founders then spent the first 18 months protecting the intellectual property of their proprietary technology ....

In the second half of 2004, Neocutis Inc. was founded and headquartered in San Francisco. Neocutis Inc. heads all of the commercial activites."

h/t "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam"