by LI Kewen

Beiersdorf AG has challenged a new whitening ingredient launched by China's Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd., highlighting rising competition and regulatory scrutiny in one of the country’s most tightly controlled skincare segments.

The dispute was triggered after Kintor on March 17 announced an exclusive partnership with Shanghai Chicmax Cosmetic Co., Ltd. to develop and register KT-939 as a new cosmetic ingredient in China, describing it as the "strongest domestically developed whitening agent."

Beiersdorf said it had conducted scientific assessment, evidence review and legal analysis, with the work nearing completion, and added it would take necessary actions under applicable laws. Kintor issued a rebuttal, saying KT-939 is independently developed with its own intellectual property and warning it may pursue legal action over what it called unsubstantiated claims.

The core issue is whether KT-939 infringes Beiersdorf's patented Thiamidol 630, used in brands such as Eucerin and Nivea.

Experts said both compounds are resorcinol derivatives targeting tyrosinase, a key enzyme in melanin production, and share high structural similarity. However, whether that constitutes patent infringement remains a legal question.

The controversy underscores the commercial importance of proprietary ingredients in China's whitening market. Thiamidol 630 was approved in November 2024, becoming the first whitening ingredient approved under China's revised cosmetics regulations and the first such approval in the country in more than a decade.

Whitening ingredients are classified as high-risk in China and must undergo a full registration process, creating significant barriers to entry and giving early movers an advantage in branding and pricing.

Kintor's claims of superior performance are based on laboratory data, but experts cautioned that the compound lacks extensive clinical validation compared with established ingredients.

Legal experts said the use of absolute claims such as "strongest" could be deemed misleading under Chinese advertising rules, particularly if used in marketing materials.

Analysts said the dispute could become a test case for how regulators balance innovation, competition and compliance in China's fast-growing cosmetics ingredients sector.