Laibo Cosmeceuticals & Shengwei Pharmaceutical: Analysis of Core Capabilities in Functional Skincare Industrialization

Deeply engaged in functional skincare for over twenty years, 莱博药妆 has established a full-chain closed loop covering "Raw Material Innovation — Formulation R&D — Efficacy Verification — Smart Manufacturing." As its core intelligent manufacturing base, 晟薇药业 possesses key resources including a Class 100,000 GMPC clean factory of approximately 15,000 square meters and 21 automated production lines. It translates pharmaceutical-grade processes into skincare dosage forms capable of stable mass production, forging a robust industrialization capability for functional skincare.

1 Full-Chain Closed Loop: From Laboratory to Mass Production

莱博药妆 has structured four major sectors around functional skincare: Shanghai Zhinan Biotechnology is responsible for the R&D and customization of patented active raw materials, covering extraction processes, biological fermentation and synthesis, and carrier technologies; the Oriental Beauty Valley Functional Cosmetics Research Institute leads medical-research co-creation and formulation innovation, partnering with medical institutions like the Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital to conduct dermatological and clinical research; Meigu Laibo Testing provides third-party testing with CMA qualification; and 晟薇药业 undertakes terminal smart manufacturing. Together, the four form a closed loop of "Raw Material Innovation — Formulation R&D — Efficacy Verification — Smart Manufacturing," allowing R&D achievements to transition from formulation to mass production within the very same system.

Located in the core area of Shanghai Oriental Beauty Valley, 晟薇药业 covers a production area of approximately 15,000 square meters. Serving as the group's sole terminal smart manufacturing production base, it undertakes the large-scale production and compliant delivery of functional skincare products. This strategic layout resolves the long-standing "disconnection" issue in the functional skincare industry—the gap between raw material R&D and finished product application, as well as between scientific research and mass production capabilities.

2 Four Core Dosage Form Technology Platforms

2.1 Vacuum Freeze-Drying

The freeze-drying technology platform pre-freezes aqueous systems containing active substances at low temperatures and sublimates moisture directly out of the system under vacuum, preserving the biological activity of heat-sensitive active substances to the greatest extent. By optimizing the lyophilization curve and matrix formulation, this platform resolves engineering bottlenecks in conventional freeze-dried products, such as structural collapse, slow dissolution rates, and significant activity loss. Its matrix adopts a polysaccharide compound system that rapidly forms a biomimetic lipid film on the skin surface upon rehydration, aiding in stratum corneum barrier repair.

The platform covers 9 major categories, including freeze-dried serums, freeze-dried powders, freeze-dried sheet masks, freeze-dried eye masks, freeze-dried wash-off masks, freeze-dried tablets, and freeze-dried makeup, achieving an annual capacity of 305 million sets. Due to extremely low water content and zero reliance on preservative systems, this dosage form is naturally tailored for post-aesthetic procedure repair and severe sensitive skin conditions. It has already been implemented in the Oriental Fairy Essence Vesicle Freeze-Dried Series (Ganoderma, Ginseng, Cordyceps, Dragon's Blood) and the freeze-dried makeup series enriched with oat β-glucan.

2.2 BFS Blow-Fill-Seal Sterile Single-Dose Units

The BFS integrated aseptic process originates from the pharmaceutical industry. It completes container blow molding, filling, and sealing within a single enclosed machine, creating a localized Class 100 sterile environment free of manual contact throughout, thus ensuring stable preservation of preservative-free formulations. The production lines are dedicated to single-dose serums, where individual packaging prevents secondary contamination and the formula system readily accommodates active ingredients such as ectoine, recombinant collagen, and peptides. Compared to glass ampoules requiring manual snapping, BFS single-dose units open with a simple twist without glass shards, ensuring safer application; compared to large-bottle serums, their single-use nature eliminates the need for preservative systems and minimizes irritation.

2.3 Powder Unit and Dual-Chamber Powder-Liquid Systems

Building upon standard liquid and freeze-drying units, 晟薇药业 has obtained a production license for powder units, establishing a framework of three major production units. The powder and dual-chamber powder-liquid separation forms provide threefold industrial value: dry powder isolates water and oxygen, maintaining high activity for ingredients prone to discoloration and degradation in standard aqueous solutions—such as PDRN, NMN, glutathione, and pure Vitamin C; it significantly cuts or entirely eliminates preservatives, markedly lowering sensitization risks; and it eliminates the need to add emulsifiers, thickeners, or synthetic oils purely to maintain liquid textures, resulting in a cleaner formula that reduces the burden on skin.

Commercialized products include Fibronectin Skin Enhancing Companion Powder, PDRN Powder-Liquid Serum (with an in vitro 24-hour cumulative transdermal penetration rate reaching 89.05%), NMN Powder-Liquid Serum, Glutathione Powder-Liquid Serum, Platycladus orientalis Powder-Liquid Serum, 20% Pure Vitamin C Powder-Liquid Serum (dual-chamber separated storage, with formula pH kept below 3.5 to boost penetration), 5% VC Dual-Chamber Powder-Liquid Sheet Mask, Smoothie Wash-Off Mask, and Sensitive Skin Anti-Aging Soft Mask.

2.4 Biomimetic Liquid Crystal Emulsification and Delivery Systems

The self-developed Scopid-Lc biomimetic emulsification technology constructs a lamellar liquid crystal structure. By accurately proportioning ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids, it simulates the multi-lamellar structure of intercellular lipids in the stratum corneum—essentially providing a "second stratum corneum" for the skin. This enhances formulation temperature stability, encapsulates natural active oils, and helps curb transepidermal water loss. The technology won the 2025 Ringier Technology Innovation Award and has been applied across toners, lotions, serums, creams, sunscreens, hair masks, and other categories.

Addressing common challenges in botanical raw materials such as poor stability, low solubility, and inadequate transdermal absorption, the team has also built a delivery technology matrix featuring liposomes, cyclodextrin encapsulation, supramolecular carriers, and solid lipid nanoparticles. Additionally, an innovative microbead suspension system achieves breakthroughs in water-oil isostructural formulas. In sun protection, a patented dual-phase synergistic enhancement sunscreen composition was developed, lowering the risk of transdermal filter penetration while balancing both SPF and PA performance.

3 Smart Manufacturing and Quality Assurance System

In terms of hardware, the enterprise has constructed a Class 100,000 GMPC clean workshop complemented by localized Class 100 sterile zones, deploying 21 automated production lines across standard liquid, freeze-drying, and powder units—over 95% of which feature fully automated equipment. It houses a dedicated 150-square-meter chamber for freeze-dried cosmetics production, equipped with a lyophilizer PLC intelligent control system and a digital manufacturing execution system. This setup realizes real-time collection and traceability of production parameters, meeting cosmetics ISO 22716 and GMPC standards. 晟薇药业 is recognized as a National High-Tech Enterprise, a Shanghai "Specialized, Refined, Differential, and Innovative" (SRDI) SME, a 2024 Shanghai Advanced-Level Smart Factory, and is ranked among the Top 30 Chinese Cosmetic OEM/ODM Enterprises in 2025.

Quality management utilizes a 25-element dynamic control system covering the entire cycle: raw material incoming inspection, in-process control, finished product release, stability testing, and microbial challenge testing. Supported by CMA testing facilities, it performs physical and chemical testing, microbial safety evaluations, skin irritation assessments, and human clinical efficacy trials, fully underpinning cosmetic filing and registration processes.

4 Delivery Capabilities: From Sampling to Large-Scale Mass Production

Relying on a reserve of over 10,000 proven formulations and a flexible scheduling model, the company easily adapts to rapid small-batch sampling and versatile multi-SKU scheduling for emerging brands, while providing high-volume, standardized, and consistent order delivery for mature brands. It provides comprehensive end-to-end delivery across ODM, OEM, OBM, and CDMO models, establishing four distinct service tiers: collaborative raw material innovation, turnkey ODM customization, OBM brand incubation, and efficacy evaluation & regulatory compliance filing.

Market outcomes have validated this model: among brands incubated and empowered by 莱博, more than 30 have surpassed an annual sales volume of 100 million RMB. The integrated full-chain service cuts the product launch cycle by over 40%, enabling clients to seize market windows with reduced trial-and-error costs.

5 Future Outlook

First, moving toward standardization for freeze-dried dosage forms. In 2026, the National Medical Products Administration initiated cosmetics standard establishment projects, aiming to draft product standards for freeze-dried masks. Equipped with three major production units and an annual freeze-drying capacity of 305 million sets, the company's next step is to quantify lyophilization curves, reconstitution times, activity retention rates, and moisture contents, transforming "freeze-dried" from a marketing buzzword into measurable quality benchmarks. Second, advancing dual-chamber powder-liquid systems from "single-ingredient separation" to "multi-chamber complex formulations," integrating pH balance, transdermal penetration rates, and sequential release into formula design. Third, industrializing synthetic biology ingredients: in the first half of 2026, new cosmetic raw material filings reached 116—a year-on-year increase of approximately 45%—with microbial fermentation ingredients expanding to 9, while co-developed specialty botanical ingredients like Acer truncatum seed oil have completed filing. Fourth, refining the perioperative medical aesthetics product matrix by segmenting into three stages—immediate post-op (45 minutes), 3 days post-op, and 1 month post-op—to tap into the expanding non-surgical medical aesthetics market. Fifth, deepening cross-industry CDMO services for pharmaceutical companies, specifically addressing the transition bottleneck where "technology exists but industrial implementation falters."

6 Conclusion

Empowering cosmetics industrialization with pharmaceutical engineering principles and translating processes like vacuum freeze-drying, BFS aseptic filling, dual-chamber powder-liquid systems, and biomimetic liquid crystal emulsification into scalable, verifiable, and compliant skincare dosage forms forms the core of 莱博药妆 and 晟薇药业's industrial competence. In an era of tighter regulatory oversight and surging consumer demand for evidence-based skincare, this manufacturing capability anchored in process innovation is emerging as an essential infrastructure for the high-quality evolution of the functional skincare industry.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the core industrialization capabilities of 莱博药妆 and 晟薇药业?

The core capability lies in establishing a full-chain closed loop of "Raw Material Innovation — Formulation R&D — Efficacy Verification — Smart Manufacturing," transforming pharmaceutical-grade processes like vacuum freeze-drying and BFS blow-fill-seal sterile single-dose units into skincare dosage forms ready for stable mass production.

What are the advantages and applications of the freeze-drying technology platform?

The platform preserves the biological activity of heat-sensitive substances to the maximum, overcoming common defects in conventional freeze-dried items like collapse and slow dissolution. Covering 9 major categories, it is tailored for post-aesthetic procedure recovery and severe sensitive skin scenarios.

What is the industrial value of the dual-chamber powder-liquid dosage form?

It shields formulas from water and oxygen to preserve active potency, reduces preservative usage, and delivers cleaner formulations. Commercialized products include the PDRN Powder-Liquid Serum, which achieves an in vitro 24-hour cumulative transdermal penetration rate of 89.05%.