L'Oreal expands dermatological skincare portfolio with Medik8 deal
L'Oreal will acquire British skincare brand Medik8, Britain-based private equity firm Inflexion said on Monday, as the French cosmetics giant boosts its offering in the fast-growing dermatological skincare market.
Neither party disclosed the size of the deal. Medik8 produces vitamin A-based anti-aging creams and serums.
"The partnership with L'Oreal will allow Medik8 to deepen its presence in existing markets and expand globally. As part of the transaction, Inflexion will retain a minority shareholding in Medik8," the private equity firm said in a statement.
L'Oreal's dermatological beauty division, which includes major brands like CeraVe, La Roche-Posay and SkinCeuticals, has remained its fastest-growing unit in recent years. The division generated 7 billion euros ($7.99 billion) in revenue last year, marking a growth of nearly 10% compared to the previous year.
The business also delivers the highest profit margin among L'Oreal's four divisions. Consumer interest in science-backed products has driven the division's growth, though rising competition has recently slowed that momentum.
L'Oreal executives said this year they are pursuing acquisitions to revive slowing growth. The company acquired Korean skincare brand Dr.G in December and also bought a minority stake in Oman-based perfume house Amouage last year.
($1 = 0.8757 euros)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fashion Network
an hour ago
- Fashion Network
True Religion reveals new promotions as it enters next growth phase
True Religion has promoted two of its current executives Kristen D'Arcy and Tina Blake, as the U.S. fashion brand looks to grow it business less than one month after a minority investment from the Borletti Group. In addition to serving as the Los Angeles-based brand's chief marketing officer, a role she has served in since 2023, D'Arcy has now added the title of head of digital growth. The executive will be tasked will driving digital growth, improving True Religion's digital experience and customer service, and increasing website conversion. 'In this expanded role, I'm now also responsible for our e-commerce business and focused on driving its double-digit growth year over year, which we'll achieve by improving our digital experience, increasing website conversion and keeping our customers coming back with a best-in-class customer service solution,' said D'Arcy. 'My other priorities include continuing to partner with the right talent and creating 360-degree, digital-first campaigns that support the women's business while driving profitable new customer acquisition and customer LTV.' Likewise, Blake, currently senior vice president of men's and women's design and brand image, has been promoted to creative director and senior vice president of design, merchandising and brand image. She now manages the company's merchandising organization, overseeing all men's and women's merchandising, in addition to design for all of the brand's digital channels. "My priorities, from a high-level business perspective, aren't changing. I'm here to drive growth in the business by creating great product and a great, aspirational brand image,' said Blake. 'In terms of merchandising, our team has been doing an amazing job, so I'm looking more at optimizing processes, focusing on specific category growth, dialing in how we leverage trend data and making sure we're always looking forward from a product perspective.' No executive departures were announced as result of the two promotions. 'In support of our goal of reaching $1 billion in annual sales in the next few years, I'm extremely pleased to announce the promotions of Kristen D'Arcy and Tina Blake,' said Michael Buckley, CEO of True Religion. 'Kristen and Tina have been key to driving the growth of our digital and women's businesses and in their newly expanded roles, they'll have even greater resources and ability to accelerate our business and take True Religion to the next level.' Last month, Borletti Group said it had acquired a minority stake in True Religion, joining ACON Investments to support global expansion, digital development, and retail growth. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AFP
an hour ago
- AFP
Video misleads about safety of 6-in-1 vaccine Vaxelis
"A new vaccine is on the market for your 6 week old baby! It's never been tested against a placebo or for carcinogenic effects," claims a May 19, 2025 Instagram post from a Canadian content creator who regularly posts against vaccination. She is one of several creators who stitched their reactions next to a video with thousands of interactions from Jeffrey Barke, a founding member of America's Frontline Doctors -- a group AFP has repeatedly fact-checked. In the video, Barke reads from the package insert for Vaxelis, a shot given to simultaneously prevent infections caused by pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, and hepatitis B (archived here). "Studies that brought this product to market -- there is not a single randomized controlled study with an inert placebo. It's only tested against other vaccinations," he says, implying this is cause for concern. Image Screenshot of Instagram reels taken on June 3, 2025 Similar claims also appeared on X in French, German, Spanish and Croatian, spreading as officials with the US Department of Health and Human Services under Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. aim to shift the way vaccines are tested and approved. The posts also come as experts say vaccine misinformation is rampant online and may be contributing to falling vaccination rates across the United States and Canada (archived here and here). Vaxelis is not new, however. The US Food and Drug Administration first approved the joint venture of pharmaceutical companies Sanofi Pasteur and Merck for children six weeks through four years of age in December 2018 (archived here and here). It is also administered in Europe (archived here). Kelly Moore, president and CEO of the nonprofit co-authored the policy statement for Vaxelis from the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a panel of experts that makes recommendations about the childhood vaccinations schedule (archived here). "It's an excellent vaccine," she told AFP in a June 2 email. In February 2019, the ACIP reported that Vaxelis was subjected to six clinical studies involving more than 5,000 infants six to 12 weeks of age (archived here). It said the studies showed Vaxelis "had an acceptable safety profile that is consistent with its component vaccines." Placebo testing Barke is correct that Vaxelis was not tested against an inert placebo. But experts said there is reason for that: it would have been unethical to do so. Clinical trial participants must be offered the existing standard of care, Moore said. It would be "entirely unethical" to withhold existing vaccines while testing a combination product that contains components already routinely given in those separate shots, she said. The World Health Organization has also pushed back against calls for changes to vaccination testing. "The safety of vaccines is held to an extremely high standard," WHO vaccine chief Kate O'Brien said May 1, 2025 (archived here). O'Brien stressed that the "gold standard" process calls for placebo testing when developing vaccines against diseases for which no immunization options exist. But when vaccines are developed to cover new strains or to offer a combination shot against multiple viruses, they are generally tested to see if they are as or more effective than the existing shots. O'Brien said it would also be unethical to give test subjects a placebo in place of "vaccines that are life-saving that are already licensed." Combination vaccines Barke further misleads by misinterpreting section 13.1 of the package insert, which says that Vaxelis was not evaluated for "carcinogenic or mutagenic potential or impairment of fertility." The language appears in documents for many routine vaccines, US health care group Novant Health explains on its website (archived here). "This merely means that there was no need for further testing because toxicology studies conducted at the preclinical phase showed no signs of adverse effects from the vaccine or its individual components," it says. There are also specific guidelines and rules for when a manufacturer needs to perform fertility studies. With a shot approved for use only in populations under five years old, studies in pregnant animals would not take place, said Kathryn Edwards, an expert in vaccinology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (archived here). "These vaccines have been used individually for decades in millions of people that there has not been a signal for infertility and no biologic reason why you would be concerned," she said in a June 4 email. Six-in-one shots, including Vaxelis, were developed to lower the number of injections for children, "reduce the burden of handling multiple different separate vaccines and to ensure timely administration of all the needed vaccines," Edwards said. The Canadian Paediatric Society and the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization currently recommend children receive 5-in-1 or 6-in-1 vaccines (archived here and here). After a vaccine is approved, its safety continues to be monitored. "Combination vaccines have been shown to be no more reactive than separate vaccines, and no long term complications have been seen with combination vaccines," Edwards said. Such products have several advantages, including increased coverage rates, reduced need for additional health care visits and lower costs for distributing the product, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (archived here). Adverse effects Barke's video highlights the potential risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome -- a condition in which the body's immune system attacks the nerves, sometimes causing temporary paralysis. He also points to apnea, which is a pause in breathing, as a risk. But Edwards said Guillain-Barré syndrome is "very rare in children." Cedars Sinai Hospital says on its website that most children diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome "recover fully with no complications" (archived here). Rachel Greenberg, associate professor of pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine, researched apnea risks when vaccinating premature infants (archived here). "While there is a temporary increased risk of apnea after vaccination, the risk posed by vaccine-preventable respiratory and other infections to unvaccinated infants is far higher," she said in a press release about her January 2025 study (archived here). The most common side effects reported following a shot of Vaxelis are pain or swelling at the injection site and fever (archived here). Melody Butler, founding executive director of Nurses Who Vaccinate, said parents weighing the risk of rare, serious adverse events should remember how many children still die from vaccine-preventable diseases (archived here). "We've become so spoiled that we don't even know what these diseases do to the human body," she told AFP June 4. "We're very fortunate that we don't see these diseases firsthand." Ingredients Barke's video also targets the vaccine's ingredients, a tactic regularly deployed by activists who claim, without evidence, that immunizations are dangerous. In particular, he questions aluminum and formaldehyde. Aluminum is naturally found in the environment, and humans ingest it through drinking water and some foods, including breast milk and infant formula. Aluminum boosts immune response, reducing the amount of vaccine required to provide immunity (archived here). Aluminum-containing vaccines have been used for decades and have been administered to more than one billion people without problem, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) says on its website (archived here). Formaldehyde, meanwhile, is "essential in human metabolism" and can be found in all humans, according to CHOP (archived here). It is used in vaccines to help prevent bacterial contamination during manufacturing (archived here). "There's more formaldehyde in a single apple or pear than in a vaccine," Butler said, dismissing the residual amounts passed to the body during vaccination as "negligible." Read more of AFP's reporting on vaccine misinformation here.
Fashion Network
an hour ago
- Fashion Network
French Senate to vote on regulating fast fashion
The French Senate is set to vote Tuesday on a bill regulating the fast fashion industry by sanctioning companies and banning advertisements. The bill targets Chinese-founded e-commerce giant Shein, which sells lower-quality clothes at very low prices. Fast fashion companies export large volumes of easily replaceable items to France, causing pollution and saturating markets. The lower house National Assembly adopted the bill in March 2024. The Senate will vote on it later Tuesday and is expected to pass it with government backing and widespread support in the chamber. The vote will not mark the final legislative step. A joint committee of senators and lower house deputies will meet in September to produce a joint text before the law's final adoption. "The text plans to reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry," said Anne-Cécile Violland, the center-right member of parliament who proposed the bill. Fast fashion continues to grow in France. Between 2010 and 2023, the value of advertised products rose from €2.3 billion to €3.2 billion. According to the state environmental agency Ademe, approximately 48 clothing items per person enter the French market each year, while 35 items are discarded every second. "Fast fashion poses a triple threat," said Minister for Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher. "It promotes overconsumption, causes ecological disaster and threatens our businesses." The minister condemned an "invasion" of products that "do not last" and expressed hope that the bill would help drive change across Europe. Pannier-Runacher said that once France adopts the bill, the European Commission will review it to ensure compliance with European law. Targeting fast-fashion The Senate, where the right holds a majority, modified the bill to specifically target "ultra" fast fashion companies such as Asian websites Shein and Temu. The Senate's amendments aim to exclude French and European brands that could otherwise be affected, such as Zara, H&M and Kiabi. However, the bill will still require these fashion giants to inform their customers about the environmental impact of their products. "I have no intention of forcing French brands that contribute to our country's economic vitality to pay a single euro," said rapporteur Sylvie Valente Le Hir, a member of the right-wing The Republicans party. The bill will impose stricter sanctions on fast-fashion companies by scoring their "environmental communication," Pannier-Runacher said. This "eco-score" will apply to all fast-fashion companies. Companies that receive the lowest scores will face government-imposed taxes of up to €5 per product in 2025, rising to €10 per product by 2030. This tax cannot exceed 50% of the product's original price. Advertisement ban The bill will also impose sanctions on influencers promoting fast fashion products and ban fast fashion advertisements. "The regulation of the fast fashion industry will only succeed through a collective effort, not by targeting a single actor," Shein spokesperson Quentin Ruffat told RTL radio on Monday. Ruffat warned that the law would introduce "a tax of €10 per sold item of clothing by 2030" and would "impact the purchasing power" of French consumers. Environmental organizations also voiced concerns that lawmakers could misinterpret the bill. "Debates may amount to an interesting framework that still lacks substance," said Green Senator Jacques Fernique. On Monday, the Textiles Industry Union (UIT) recognized the bill as "a first step" and expressed hope for its "rapid adoption ... even if the text does not entirely fit our expectations." with AFP
