Inside the innovation of No7's most recent skincare launch

No7 Beauty Company, a subsidiary of Walgreens Boots Alliance since its launch in April 2021, has been a beacon of innovation in the beauty industry for 88 years. Home to renowned brands such as Liz Earle Beauty Co, Soap & Glory, Botanics, and Sleek MakeUP, it has continually offered premium yet affordable skincare solutions.

No7 recently introduced its Future Renew range, which hit Priceline shelves exclusively in February, to media and influencers over dinner at Beta. Products in the range showcased include the Future Renew Repair Serum, Repair Eye Serum, and Repair Night Cream, already celebrated globally for their innovative formulations. The launch has been marked by impressive sales, with one product from the range selling every two seconds at international retailers.

Supported by 37 studies, the Future Renew range promises age-defying results, with clinical trials showing that 97 per cent of women experienced significant improvements in visible signs of skin damage. The success of this range is attributed to the cutting-edge Peptidology, a super-peptide blend developed over fifteen years in collaboration with the University of Manchester.

Retail Beauty sat down with No7 Head of Science and Research, Dr Mike Bell, to find out more.

How do you believe the Future Renew range will revolutionise the Australian beauty industry?

I really hope that this will be the case for a number of possible reasons. Firstly, it puts peptides as cosmeceuticals well and truly on the map for the beauty industry. Their potential as effective, targeted and well tolerated therapeutics in medical fields is currently being explored in many clinical trials so it is not surprising that we are realising their potential in skincare. Our cosmetic peptides are a world first and proprietary to No7, with a body of scientific evidence supporting their benefits. Secondly, as a brand we want to change the skin ageing narrative to one that is much more inclusive. The accumulation of damage over time is relevant to everyone’s skin, no matter what it has been exposed to over its lifetime. And finally, at No7 it is important that we continue to set and raise the standards of testing that support the claims that we make. Nearly 5000 women have been involved in testing the Future Renew products with more than 50 per cent represented by skin of colour across nearly 40 different studies.

Pepticology is highlighted as a ground-breaking development. Can you elaborate on how Pepticology sets itself apart from other skincare ingredients?

No7’s Pepticology is a world first peptide proprietary technology not available in any other brand. It is made up of a blend of two peptides and has been developed after 15 years of painstaking peer reviewed scientific research into skin damage and repair. Unlike most skin care ingredients, these two peptides mimic signalling peptides (derived from collagens and proteins responsible for skin’s elasticity) present in the skin and therefore harness the skin’s own natural repair processes.

How did the collaboration with the University of Manchester’s scientists influence the creation of Pepticology technology?

The development represents 15 years of scientific research between No7 and the University of Manchester involving dermatologists, professors, nurses, and both university and No7 scientists. It started with the use of mathematical modelling to predict the hundreds of possible signalling peptides in the skin. Candidate peptides small enough to penetrate the skin were then synthesised before testing for repair benefits, first on skin cells and then on human skin itself. The final peptide blend was shown to support the production of more than 50 different proteins in skin cells and support the repair of photo-damaged skin.

What future developments do you anticipate in the realm of visibly repairing skin damage, and how might this impact the beauty industry?

Certainly, peptides will become an even more important skin care ingredient in the future. Unlike ingredients such as retinol, they are universally very well tolerated by all skin and effective in low concentrations. Naturally peptides are involved in many protection and repair processes in the different layers of the skin so new peptides that target different aspects of skin repair are likely in the future. Possible targets include the reduction of melanin over production helping fade dark spots, or the strengthening of the skin barrier via increased ceramide production. The need for novel formats that support the targeted delivery of these peptides will also be a requirement for the future.

Images from the Australian launch event below: