The topic of the human virome is new, difficult and somewhat dangerous. In this moment, the scientific community around the world is making tremendous effort to discover therapies to produce a vaccine for COVID-19. As such, cosmetic scientists are advised to remain humble as this new and unfamiliar territory is uncovered.

According to John Jiménez, senior exploration scientist at Belcorp, Colombia, with the COVID-19 outbreak and responding influx of hand sanitizer and cleanser formulations, personal care products making antiviral and disinfectant claims are especially hot right now, as you might expect.

“I [recently attended] … a webinar that showed several products specifically communicating virus protection,” Jiménez told Cosmetics & Toiletries. Examples ranged from sanitizing room spray and surfacing cleansing wipes, to laundry detergent and hand soaps. “The projection, I think, is that many cosmetic companies will begin to launch products with [related] claims and R&D departments need to understand more about this claim. I think this is the beginning.”

Jiménez and Cosmetics & Toiletries therefore sought experts researching this novel field to comment on the human virome as a potential skin care target. Following are their responses.

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Published by Cosmetics & Toiletries, May 26, 2020