A Mosta Technopark-based company is producing liposomes which it has developed and having them marketed internationally by the multinational company MERCK, which is active in the field of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Liposomes are described as vehicles that can be used to deliver substances in the body to a targeted site, such as a group of cells or target organ.

The Mosta-based company is the Institute of Cellular Pharmacology which Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea has visited.

ICP started its operations in Malta in 1994 with the assistance of what was then the National Aquaculture Centre. The ICP followed in 1998, set up by Gilles Gutierrez and Charles Saliba, aiming to carry out research and development into the commercial uses and applications of terrestrial plants and marine algae. It has laboratories specialising in aquatic biology where research can be carried out, using a controlled aquatic environment on the culture and scale up of algal culture. Research has been carried out in this area for leading cosmetic companies using algae as the raw material for their products. The major part of its activity is to collect species from all over the world and to try and determine if there are any biologically active principles in these materials that could be beneficial to mankind or animal livestock, the Department of Information said.

During his visit, Mr Galea presented ICP Ltd with the product certificate which from time to time is requested of the Malta Standards Authority by the company so that it would be able to sell its products abroad. Among the products ICP has also developed is an extract drawn from the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. The fruit contains substances that help the organism cope with physical and physiological stress. The product is being used as a human neutraceutical, as a cosmetic product, as well as a product for use in aquaculture and the poultry industry.

ICP is now in the process of expanding its production facility at the Technopark, and taking on more employees. Through its association with major multinationals, it hopes to put on the international market two new product ranges by the end of this year.