Alchem Brings Transactiva to the UK
Plant-Powered Skincare Revolution
Read Time: 5 minutes
Hi everyone
For decades, the cosmetic industry’s idea of a “high-performance” skincare ingredient often meant synthetic chemicals or animal-derived extracts. Many formulators assumed that truly effective actives had to come from a lab. Natural alternatives were often seen as nice but not as potent or reliable. It’s time to challenge that old thinking.
What if the next breakthrough ingredient isn’t synthesised in a vat or harvested from an animal, but grown? What if cutting-edge results could sprout from a rice grain or a tobacco leaf? Today, we’re excited to share news that flips the script on where our skincare actives come from – and where they can take your products next.
Alchem Trading is now the official UK distributor for Transactiva, an innovative Italian biotech company. Transactiva’s approach to cosmetic actives is something truly new: instead of sourcing actives from petrochemicals or livestock, they grow them in plants. Yes, you read that right – high-tech skincare actives grown by plants!
This partnership means UK formulators like you can now access Transactiva’s dermocosmetic range of plant-made actives, featuring LenEase®, OryCalm®, and CeraKnight®. Each of these is a bioactive polypeptide (a small protein) produced via an ingenious biotech method called Plant Molecular Farming. Before we dive into what that means, here’s a quick intro to the trio now at your fingertips:
LenEase® – a fast-acting soothing peptide for sensitive skin that can visibly calm redness and irritation within minutes.
OryCalm® – a biomimetic calming peptide (made from rice grain proteins) that reduces inflammation and helps fortify the skin’s natural barrier.
CeraKnight® – a plant-grown enzyme that boosts your skin’s own ceramide production to rebuild the barrier, leading to stronger, hydrated, more youthful-looking skin.
(Don’t worry about memorising all the details now – we’ll be unpacking each of these ingredients one-by-one in upcoming issues. For now, let’s look at the big picture.)
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
– Alan Kay
From Lab-Made to Leaf-Made
It turns out that lab beakers and animals aren’t the only way to get powerful skincare actives. Transactiva has proven that plants themselves can be tiny factories for sophisticated molecules. This concept, known as Plant Molecular Farming (PMF), is at the heart of Transactiva’s innovation. In simple terms, PMF means using plants as natural bioreactors to produce ‘green’ active ingredients with a precisely defined composition and high efficacy. Instead of mixing chemical reagents or extracting fluids from animals, Transactiva “grows” the desired active molecule inside common plants like rice or tobacco, then harvests it. It’s a bit like farming your skincare actives – hence the name!
Transactiva uses controlled indoor cultivation of plants (like Nicotiana tobacco under LED lights) to produce high-purity cosmetic peptides. No pesticides or soil are needed – it’s sustainable high-tech farming.
Who is Transactiva?
They’re not your typical ingredient supplier. Transactiva started in the pharma world, founded by scientists looking for better ways to make complex therapeutic proteins. In fact, the company was born from biomedical research in North Italy and has been developing innovative therapies based on Plant Molecular Farming since 2001. They realised that some advanced molecules (like active peptides or enzymes) are impossible to produce by conventional chemical synthesis and require biotech methods. Using plants as the production platform was their ingenious solution. After demonstrating success in pharmaceuticals, a few years ago Transactiva turned to skincare – applying the same rigor and creativity to develop dermocosmetic actives for skin health. They’ve built a portfolio of unique bioactive compounds for cosmetics, all made in plants. And we do mean unique: these actives aren’t your run-of-the-mill herb extracts; they’re precise protein molecules often inspired by skincare biology (for example, CeraKnight is a human skin enzyme produced in rice seeds).
What does Plant Molecular Farming involve?
On a practical level, Transactiva grows their “ingredient crops” in high-tech indoor farms. Picture rows of plants in clean, controlled environments – no pesticides needed, no harsh weather, just optimal conditions. For instance, one method uses the Australian tobacco plant (Nicotiana benthamiana): once the plants have grown enough leaves, they are given a DNA “instructions manual” (via a safe bacterium) that tells the leaves to start producing a target peptide. After a few days of the plants doing their natural protein manufacturing, the Transactiva team harvests the leaves and extracts the peptide, purifying it to cosmetic-grade standards. The result is a pure, plant-derived active ingredient – no animal input, no random mix of compounds, just the specific peptide we want. It’s a remarkable fusion of nature and biotechnology: growing high-value actives instead of brewing or mining them. And because it’s rooted in biotech, Transactiva can ensure each batch is consistent and safe, much like a pharmaceutical product. (In fact, they extensively test efficacy and safety – more on that in a moment.)
Crucially, these plant-made actives align perfectly with the beauty industry’s push for sustainability. They are produced with green technology (no hazardous chemical processes), yield 100% plant-based products, and even allow vertical farming in limited space. It’s a refreshing way to get clean, vegan, high-performance ingredients without placing extra burden on the planet. Transactiva’s vision is to make biotech skincare more accessible and sustainable, and from everything we’ve seen, they walk the talk. Their core values emphasise research, innovation, and green solutions for better skin treatments.
What’s In It for You and Your Brand?
So, why should you care that these plant-grown actives are now available in the UK? Simply put, this development opens up new possibilities for formulating skincare products that are both cutting-edge and truly natural. Here are some key benefits and opportunities that Transactiva’s actives bring to the table:
High Performance, Clinically Proven: These ingredients aren’t just marketing fluff – they’ve been put to the test. Transactiva treats cosmetic R&D with pharma-level seriousness, which means extensive lab and clinical studies back their claims. For example, in studies a Transactiva peptide was shown to reduce skin redness by over 50% within 30 minutes of application. Another helped restore depleted skin ceramides to near-normal levels in just 24 hours, leading to measurably stronger skin barrier and hydration gains. When we say high-performance, we mean it – you can get results visible to consumers (and backed by data). Formulators who have long relied on synthetic peptides or actives will be pleased to know these green peptides deliver comparable, if not superior, efficacy.
Green and Sustainable: Each of these actives is 100% plant-derived and vegan, produced by farming methods rather than fossil fuel chemistry. There are no animal ingredients, and the production process avoids harsh chemicals. Plus, because the actives are made in plants, they sidestep many environmental drawbacks of traditional manufacturing. No deforestation or over-harvesting of wild plants; no factory waste or heavy carbon footprint from multi-step syntheses. Transactiva grows what it needs in a controlled setting – even using vertical farming to save space. It’s a cleaner supply chain. This gives your brand a great sustainability story to tell: high-tech natural ingredients with low ecological impact. In an era where consumers and regulators are increasingly scrutinising environmental credentials, formulating with a PMF-derived active can bolster your product’s green profile.
Differentiation and Brand Story: Using an ingredient created by Plant Molecular Farming instantly sets your product apart in the market. It’s not every day you can say, “Our serum’s hero active is grown in rice grains in Italy!” This is an innovation that can capture the imagination of marketing teams and beauty editors alike. Incorporating LenEase, OryCalm, or CeraKnight gives you a fresh story to tell – about science meeting nature, about leveraging biotech for better skin and a better planet. It positions your brand as a pioneer willing to embrace novel, clean technologies. In practical terms, it can elevate your product positioning into that sweet spot where consumers see “natural” and “advanced” in the same bottle. And because Transactiva’s actives are Cosmos-approved and non-GMO, you can appeal to clean beauty enthusiasts without any caveats.
Easy Formulation & Low Usage: Despite their high-tech origins, these actives are formulated to be formulator friendly. They come as stable aqueous solutions (no tricky powders or weird solvents) and are effective at low concentrations (often around 1% or even less in a formula). That means you can incorporate them into a variety of product types – from serums and gels to creams – without fuss. Low effective doses also make it economically sensible; a little goes a long way. Each active has been safety tested and is supplied with data, so you know what you’re working with. In short, you get a plug-and-play high-end active that won’t require an overhaul of your formulation process.
Is Plant-Based Tech Too Good to Be True?
It’s normal to have questions when confronted with a new technology. Let’s address a few you might be thinking about:
“Will a plant-derived active really work as well as my synthetic go-tos?”
Yes – and the proof is in the results. These actives have shown comparable or even superior efficacy to conventional actives in trials. They’re not folkloric herbal extracts; they are precise molecules validated by science. Transactiva’s peptides modulate skin processes in targeted ways (for instance, LenEase modulates the inflammation cascade like a soothing antibody would). The company’s pharma background means they only launch ingredients that demonstrate real effects in both in-vitro assays and in in vivo (human) tests. So you can be confident “plant-made” doesn’t mean “weak” – it means nature’s power delivered through science.
“Is this technology too experimental or untested to trust?”
Plant Molecular Farming might sound futuristic, but it’s a well-grounded technology. It has been used in medical research for years (even for producing vaccines and therapeutics), and Transactiva’s team has decades of biotech expertise behind it. Think of PMF as just another production method – akin to fermentation (which gave us ingredients like hyaluronic acid and many vitamins). Transactiva has put in the time to ensure safety, quality, and consistency, with rigorous quality control and multiple studies before an ingredient ever hits the market. In other words, this isn’t sci-fi – it’s cutting-edge biotech being applied responsibly to cosmetics. You won’t be a guinea pig; you’ll be an early adopter of a proven approach now crossing over into skincare.
“Does ‘plant-made’ mean GMO? Any regulatory issues?”
Rest assured, the final ingredients contain no genetically modified organisms. The production is done within plants, but what you receive is a purified protein solution – there’s no DNA or live plant matter in the ingredient. In fact, Transactiva’s transient expression technique means the plants themselves aren’t permanently modified (they don’t produce seeds with new DNA). All Transactiva actives are classified as non-GMO and Cosmos-approved for natural cosmetics. They meet EU cosmetic regulations and have documentation ready (MSDS, safety assessments, etc.). From a formulator’s standpoint, you treat these like any other cosmetic active – there are no special regulatory hoops just because they were “grown.” If anything, their development pedigree might make your safety assessor smile, given the level of testing and transparency involved.
(If you have other questions or concerns not covered above, please drop me a line – I’m happy to talk through them!)
A New Opportunity for UK Brands
For UK beauty brands and manufacturers, having Transactiva’s plant-made actives available locally is a game-changer. This is your chance to be among the first movers in embracing a new class of performance bioactives that combine nature, biotechnology and proven efficacy. Innovation like this doesn’t come around often in cosmetic ingredients. By formulating with LenEase, OryCalm, or CeraKnight, you can create products that genuinely stand out – not only will they deliver visible results for consumers, but they also carry a powerful story of sustainability and scientific innovation. In an increasingly crowded market, that combination of performance + planet-friendly + novelty can make all the difference in capturing consumer interest and trust.
And let’s not overlook the timing: consumers are more ingredient-savvy than ever. There’s a growing segment who check labels for “clean” or “green” credentials, yet they also demand real results (the days of “natural but doesn’t work” are over). Plant molecular farmed actives tick both boxes. They allow you to boost your product claims (think rapid soothing, anti-redness, barrier repair, anti-wrinkle) while still proudly labelling your formula as having sustainable, plant-based key ingredients. It’s the kind of win-win that can reinvigorate an existing line or inspire an entirely new product range. And with Alchem Trading as the official distributor in the UK, accessing these actives is straightforward – no overseas hassle, just local support and supply you can rely on. We’re here to help you get started with samples, formulation guidance, and any technical info you need.
In short, we believe this collaboration with Transactiva opens a new era of skincare actives for our UK partners. It’s not often that something truly new lands in our ingredient palette – and we’re thrilled to help you take advantage of it. The beauty landscape is continually evolving, and this is an opportunity to evolve with it, staying ahead of the curve.
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So, there you have it…
If you’re as excited as we are about the possibilities of Dermal Papilla PRO LipoVes®, we invite you to get in touch. Whether you want to learn more about the science, see the data for yourself, or discuss how this active can fit into your next product launch, we’re here to help. Don’t miss the chance to be at the forefront of a haircare revolution. Contact us today to explore partnership opportunities and discover how Dermal Papilla PRO LipoVes® can give you a competitive edge in the European market.
(Ready to transform your haircare line? Reach out to our team for more information!)
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Thanks for reading, and see you next week.
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