Questions & answers
Answered here so you do not have to book a call to find out whether we fit. Every number is the same one you will find elsewhere on the site; where a figure is indicative, it says so.
Getting started
Answer five questions on the Start a project page: what you are making, roughly how many units, whether any SKU is a drug, when you want to ship, and how to reach you. You get an answer the same business day, including a straight no if we are not the right floor for it. There is no call to book before you know whether we are a fit.
Yes, and it is a normal first move. Send it and we qualify it against our line, tell you what would have to change to run it here, and flag anything that will not clear regulatory in the markets you are selling into. You can also start from a formula on our shelf and adjust it to your brief.
Twenty-seven formulas we have already developed, tested and photographed: face, scalp and hair, hand and nail, and self-tan. You can brand one as it stands or use it as the starting point for your own. Either route is faster and cheaper than a blank page, because the stability and the process work already exist.
Skincare, haircare and scalp care, body and hand care, self-tan, and the OTC drug products that sit beside them: sunscreen, anti-dandruff, acne and anti-perspirant. We do not make colour cosmetics, fragrance or candles, and we do not formulate purely chemical sunscreens. Telling you at the brief saves you a week.
Minimums and pricing
Ten thousand units per SKU, one formula, one fill size. The same minimum applies to a first run and to a repeat run, and it does not move. If that does not work for your launch, you have found out on this page rather than on a call.
A production run has fixed costs that do not care how many units come off the line: the changeover, the cleaning and release of the line, the batch record, the release testing, and the minimums your own bottle, cap and carton carry from their suppliers. Divide those by a small run and the per-unit cost stops making sense for you. Ten thousand is where it does. The guide on MOQ walks through the arithmetic.
One number is fixed and published: developing a custom formula is $2,500. Everything after that (testing and production) depends on the formulation, the fill size and the components, so it is quoted per formula, in writing, before any work starts, with development, testing and production shown as separate lines.
Ask for them on the Start a project form and say which formula or brief they are for. We will tell you what is available for that formula, how quickly, and whether there is a cost. Bench samples are part of development on every custom program; for a catalogue formula they are usually quicker.
Timelines
Indicatively eight to twelve weeks from an approved brief: bench work and revisions, stability testing at 40 °C and freeze–thaw, a scale-up batch on the production line, then production, release testing and fill. Real dates depend on the formula and on component lead times, and we give them in writing once we have the brief.
Indicatively twelve to seventeen weeks. The extra time over a cosmetic run is monograph formulation, photostability, efficacy testing (an in-vitro screen first, then in-vivo) plus process validation and drug-facts labeling. A market-ready OTC program, with drug listing, artwork review and the retailer documentation pack, runs indicatively sixteen to twenty-two weeks.
Components, not chemistry. A bottle or a pump with a twelve-week lead time sets the date more often than the formula does, which is why we ask about components at the brief. The second cause is a claim that needs substantiation nobody budgeted for. Both are cheap to find at week zero and expensive at week ten.
Formulas, ownership and transfers
It depends on which route you take, and it is written into the agreement before any bench work starts, never settled afterwards. A formula you bring is yours. A catalogue formula stays ours and you brand the finished product. For a formula we develop to your brief, ownership of the formula, the batch record and the test data is set out in the development agreement. Ask about it before the first sample, not after.
The list of ingredients and their percentages. That is less than it sounds: the master batch record (order of addition, temperatures, mixing speeds and hold points) the raw-material specifications and the stability data are separate documents, and in most agreements they belong to the factory. Our guide on switching manufacturers lists the eleven documents to have in hand.
Yes. Send the formula and whatever records you have. With a full batch record and stability data the transfer is a qualification run on our line; without them it is a re-development, indicatively six to twelve weeks and a fresh stability study. Either way we tell you which it is before you give notice to the old factory, and we ask you to hold enough inventory to cover the overlap.
A formula you own is made for you only. Catalogue formulas are available to more than one brand (that is what makes them fast and affordable) and we say so when you choose one.
Testing, quality and compliance
For a cosmetic: stability at 40 °C and freeze–thaw, packaging compatibility, preservative efficacy (USP 51), and release testing on every production batch. For an OTC drug product, add photostability, in-vitro then in-vivo efficacy testing (SPF and broad-spectrum for a sunscreen) and process validation. Testing is itemised on the quote so you can see what it costs.
Formology Lab is an FDA-registered drug establishment and an FDA-registered cosmetic facility under MoCRA, and a California-licensed manufacturer. Drug products are made under 21 CFR 210/211 cGMP; cosmetic products follow ISO 22716 practice. Retailer and certification-body approvals are listed in the strip at the foot of every page.
Master batch records, per-lot certificates of analysis, stability data, preservative efficacy results, allergen and country-of-origin statements, and the most recent inspection observations with our responses. We host customer audits and will sign your quality agreement.
Our regulatory group works in the building, with experience across several countries and standards. Tell us the markets you are aiming at and we will tell you what each requires (ingredient restrictions, claim limits, labeling, the registration or notification that has to be filed) and then put the file together with you. Finding that out at the brief is cheap; finding it out at the border is not.
Packaging and production
Either. We source and qualify components (tubes, bottles, airless pumps, droppers, jars, sachets and sticks) or you supply them and we qualify them on our line before the run. If you are supplying, send the component drawings with the brief; they usually decide the timeline.
Tubes, plastic and laminate, 15–200 ml, hot-fill and cold-fill; glass and PET bottles with dropper, disc-cap, flip-top, spray or lotion pump; airless pumps and droppers; glass and acrylic jars, single and double-wall; single-use and multi-pack sachets; and twist-up sticks.
9174 Deering Avenue, Chatsworth, Los Angeles: one 20,000-square-foot building with three filling lines, about twenty-five minutes from Burbank airport. Plant visits and customer audits are welcome; ask on the Start a project form or call.
Ask it on the form. Five questions, and a reply the same business day from someone who can actually answer.
In good company