Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd. (President: Dr. Tadashi Hirata) obtained the approval for "sodium L-ascorbyl-L-phosphate", the raw material for skin whitening cosmetics, from the Japanese Ministry of Health & Welfare on the 17th May, 1999 as a quasi-drug principal ingredient and will launch it for cosmetics manufacturers. This is to satisfy the expanding market of skin care cosmetics with skin whitening effect.
  The cosmetics with skin whitening effect now on the market compound a stabilized vitamin C derivative, kojic acid, arbutin, ellagic acid and placental extract as the ingredients. Sodium L-ascorbyl-L-phosphate is one of stabilized vitamin C derivatives and so far has been produced synthetically. Kyowa Hakko succeeded in its production by enzyme method and realized a large-scale production of sodium L-ascorbyl-L-phosphate of superior quality.
  Under the currently valid Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, only quasi-drugs can claim skin whitening effect of protecting skin spots and freckles caused by sunburn. However, consumers expect similar skin whitening effect also for various cosmetics of daily use and cosmetics manufacturers are going to commercialize the products with skin whitening effect without sticking to the category of quasi-drugs. Kyowa Hakko has filed the application of compounding sodium L-ascorbyl-L-phosphate in cosmetics.
  Kyowa Hakko already manufactures and sells magnesium L-ascorbyl-L-phosphate. By adding sodium L-ascorbyl-L-phosphate which is very soluble and easy to formulate in our product line-up, we will be able to satisfy the demand from cosmetics manufacturers who wish to have the raw material for cosmetics with skin whitening effect.
  With our success in establishing the method for large-scale production of the good quality product, we are going to initiate the full-scale marketing under the technical cooperation with cosmetics manufacturers inside and outside Japan within this year.