Recently, the Chinese cosmetics industry has witnessed a landmark breakthrough - the cosmetic raw material "2-methoxy-4-phenylphenol" (UP302®), jointly developed by the beauty giant Estée Lauder and the company Unigen specializing in natural product research, has officially been approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) as a whitening and pigmentation-removing agent for use in special cosmetics. This approval marks the first benchmark case since the implementation of the "Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulations", as it is the first to achieve an efficacy change through a complete scientific re-evaluation based on a long history of safe use. It has established an innovative path of "old raw materials, new value" for the industry and set a model for the refined management of Chinese cosmetics raw materials.
Ewish, as a supporting partner of this project, with its professional capabilities in cosmetic human clinical trials, in accordance with the requirements of the "Cosmetics Safety Technical Specifications", completed the human safety and efficacy tests of this raw material and issued an authoritative detection and verification report. In constructing the complete scientific evidence chain of UP302®, in addition to the systematic human efficacy verification, Ewish also provided key clinical safety assessment data. Through rigorous and meticulous scheme design, establishing matrix controls, blank controls, and positive controls, and systematically examining the relationship between the agent and efficacy, while achieving scientific extremity in the execution level, it provided indispensable scientific support for this successful approval.
UP302® - The Pioneering Journey of an Outstanding Raw Material
UP302® is not a completely new ingredient. It has a safe usage history of over fifteen years worldwide. The significance of this approval lies in that, on the solid foundation of "safety", it has successfully discovered and officially recognized its outstanding efficacy in "whitening and reducing pigmentation", becoming the first exemplary case under the new regulations that achieves an efficacy change based on a long-term safety usage history and through strict scientific re-evaluation.
The mechanism of precise targeting: The core whitening mechanism of UP302® lies in its ability to efficiently and precisely inhibit the activity of tyrosinase. Tyrosinase is the key rate-limiting enzyme in the melanin synthesis pathway. UP302® significantly inhibits the production of melanin by competitively binding to the active center of this enzyme at its source, rather than simply metabolizing the already formed pigments, thereby achieving the desired whitening and lightening of spots effect.
The comprehensive advantages brought by structural optimization: This component is a derivative obtained by structurally optimizing the traditional whitening active ingredient. It achieves an outstanding balance among efficacy, stability and skin tolerance. Its highly targeted effect feature also enables it to achieve strong efficacy while minimizing the risk of skin irritation to the greatest extent, which provides an inherent scientific explanation for its long-term global safe usage history.
Win-win cooperation - jointly promoting industry innovation
The successful approval of UP302® this time is the result of the efficient collaboration of professional capabilities among all parties involved in research, production and application.
Estée Lauder Company: As a global leader in high-end beauty, its China Innovation Research Center was recognized as a global research center in September 2025, undertaking the "end-to-end" full-chain innovation process from consumer insights to product launch. With its profound skin science foundation and precise understanding of consumer demands, it led the application and clinical observation of UP302®, promoting the comprehensive realization of this raw material from laboratory research to market value.
Unigen Company: As an innovative enterprise dedicated to the research and development of natural products, we have long been focused on developing innovative active ingredients from natural plant resources. We possess strong research capabilities and core technologies in the extraction and structural optimization of natural products. UP302® is a representative achievement of Unigen's utilization of modern technology to explore the potential of traditional plant resources. It provides innovative source support for this project.
EWISH: It is the only "Cosmetics Efficacy Evaluation Inspection and Testing Center" authorized by the China Light Industry Federation. In the construction of the complete scientific evidence chain of UP302®, human efficacy verification serves as the final bridge connecting its theoretical mechanism with the claims made in the market, and is also the core basis for regulatory approval. Through standardized testing procedures, rigorous data analysis, and authoritative report outputs, the theoretical mechanism of UP302® is transformed into scientific evidence recognized by regulatory authorities and convincing to the market. At the same time, the clinical safety assessment data provided by EWISH, when combined with the efficacy verification conclusions, mutually confirm each other, jointly forming a complete evidence system for the safety, effectiveness, and controllable quality of UP302®, laying a key foundation for the final approval of the raw material.
Creating a New Chapter with Professionalism
The successful approval of UP302® has powerfully demonstrated the value of scientific innovation and rigorous verification. It has greatly boosted the industry's confidence in in-depth raw material innovation and efficacy research, indicating that China's cosmetics industry, driven by the dual forces of innovation research and scientific supervision, is entering a brand new stage of development.
In the future, EWISH will continue to uphold its professional spirit and provide the cosmetics industry with one-stop, compliant and reliable efficacy testing and evaluation services. Together with all partners, it will jointly drive the Chinese cosmetics industry to enter a new stage of high-quality and scientific development.
