You Don't Know Joe
"Superceutical"
But it was idebenone—"the orange-colored, mitochondria-targeting, free-radical-fighting molecule"—that put Lewis on the map. And it's the ingredient he's most passionate about. Lewis found it at the 2000 American Academy of Dermatology conference, through a team of German researchers. They were investigating it for use in organ transplant preservation solutions, and discovered it could protect membranes from oxygen exposure. "It turns out they had a super-powerful antioxidant," says Lewis, who worked out that it could also protect skin, the largest organ. "We did a huge amount of very cool research on idebenone," he adds, referring to studies published in a 2005 issue of the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. The tests showed that idebenone, which Lewis first licensed to pharmaceutical powerhouse Allergan for Prevage MD, was an even better antioxidant than vitamins C and E.
Lewis explains that idebenone targets the mitochondria, the source of cellular aging. (Mitochondria are the "fiery furnaces of the cell," which spew free radicals as byproducts of energy production.) The energy of living, "results in aging," says Lewis. (In a typical aside, he explains that the rate of one's metabolic energy production is directly proportional to lifespan. "It's why a hummingbird lives two years and a tortoise to 100. The hummingbird's huge energy output also produces huge amounts of toxic free radicals, so its lifespan is short.") Idebenone, by canceling out the damaging by-products, enables cells to repair themselves. Because it's an antioxidant that protects and corrects, Lewis calls idebenone a superceutical.
If you want to get Lewis's blood boiling, ask him about the role sunscreens play in preventing damage to the skin. Why, when we're using more sunscreen than ever, he asks, are skin cancer rates at their highest? "It's probably because sunscreens don't offer 100 percent protection—we know that's the case with UVA—and because they have no free-radical-fighting capacity." So when Lewis launched his own skin-care range with idebenone called Priori, he created the most protective product he could. Named Radical Defense, it simultaneously dispenses a broad-spectrum SPF 30 sunscreen and an idebenone moisturizer with an Environmental Protection Factor (EPF) of 95 (out of 100), which measures the potency of antioxidants. Lewis came up with the method for determining an antioxidant's EPF during the idebenone studies, and he's hoping other companies take it up. "Right now it's impossible for consumers to know which antioxidants are doing anything for their skin."
