Popular beauty brand L’Oréal and Verily, an Alphabet subsidiary in the U.S. that specializes in life science research, announced an exclusive partnership in late January. To study the mechanisms of hair and skin aging, the companies will rely, among other things, on the development of new technologies and remote diagnosis solutions, such as sensors and artificial intelligence algorithms applied to dermatology.

Verily, formerly Google Life Science, which became a subsidiary of the Alphabet Group in 2015, claims that “the future of medicine lies at the intersection of health and technology.” With a mission to “improve people’s lives,” it is developing platforms to make health data actionable: developing wireless sensors capable of generating rich data sets, classifying health data from different sources for machine learning and developing “powerful” algorithms, and developing scientific research and studies capable of significantly advancing fundamental knowledge of biology and disease. To this end, it has entered into various partnerships and states:

“No one company alone can make big changes in the health sector, so our approach is to partner with major life science companies, government organizations, health systems, and patient advocacy groups with enhanced expertise in the field.”

An unprecedented strategic partnership

This partnership is a first in the cosmetics industry and should give rise to two programs to better understand and decipher the mechanisms of hair and skin aging and thus enable L’Oréal to implement strategies:

• • To establish a longitudinal biological, clinical and environmental view of skin health, L’Oréal’s deep scientific knowledge in the field will combine with Verily’s comprehensive clinical research expertise to decipher and uncover the links between the exposome (total exposures experienced by the human body over a lifetime), skin aging and deep skin biology (which will be the first program).
  • The second is a partnership between Verily’s R&D team and L’Oréal’s Active Cosmetics Division to explore the development of new technologies and remote diagnostic solutions such as sensors and Artificial Intelligence algorithms applied to dermatology and skin care, on the basis of which new services can be deployed.
    Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of the L’Oréal Group, states:

We are delighted to be collaborating with Verily, a global leader in precision health technologies. L’Oréal’s long-standing commitment to spearheading innovation stems from our deep belief in the intersection of science, formulations, and our unique Advanced Research capabilities to decode the most revolutionary scientific discoveries and create the beauty of tomorrow , we intend to usher in a new era of skin health, through technology and science, to enable every person, worldwide, to benefit from the most inclusive, personalized, effective and accurate skin programs at every stage of their lives.”

Brian Otis, member and Co-Founder of Verily, states:

“We see skin health as a critical need for our overall well-being, as its impact on a daily basis is not only physical, but more holistic. Our joint approach should allow us to identify the right intervention, based on data from Verily’s technology and clinical research capabilities, while benefiting from the expertise and connections to the world of dermatology of L’Oréal, the beauty industry’s number one.”

Dr. Amanda Oakley, President of the International Society of Teledermatology, concludes:

“This new partnership between L’Oréal and Verily promises innovation for dermatologists and consumers. We look forward to making new discoveries about skin through this strategic research collaboration and hope that the new tools and algorithms will improve consumers’ access to personalized data to care for their skin more effectively.”

Translated from Intelligence artificielle et santé de la peau : L’OREAL s’associe à VERILY