# The Skincarma Pod | Ep. 63: The 25-Year Road to a New FDA-Approved Sunscreen Filter with Carl D’Ruiz

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-skincarma-pod-7192139/the-skincarma-pod-ep-63-the-25-year-road-to-a-new-fda-approved-sunscreen-filter-with-carl-d-ruiz
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-skincarma-pod-7192139/the-skincarma-pod-ep-63-the-25-year-road-to-a-new-fda-approved-sunscreen-filter-with-carl-d-ruiz.md
Podcast: [The Skincarma® Pod](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-skincarma-pod-7192139)
Published: 2026-02-08T16:40:20+00:00
Episode link: https://skincarma.substack.com/p/the-skincarma-pod-ep-63-the-25-year
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/187299159/4af7af6ea9ad07fcbd74c85d50060203.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-skincarma-pod-7192139/episodes/the-skincarma-pod-ep-63-the-25-year-road-to-a-new-fda-approved-sunscreen-filter-with-carl-d-ruiz
Duration seconds: 3342

## Resource

For more than 25 years, the U.S. sunscreen market has been frozen in time – while the rest of the world moved on to newer, more advanced UV filters. In this episode of The Skincarma Pod , Carmine sits down with Carl D’Ruiz , one of the key figures behind the FDA’s proposed order to add a new UV filter to the U.S. sunscreen monograph – the first in more than a generation. Carl is a regulatory and scientific affairs leader at dsm-firmenich, and has spent nearly two decades navigating shifting regulations, Congressional mandates, clinical trials, and evolving FDA requirements to bring bemotrizinol (PARSOL® Shield) to the brink of U.S. approval. When finalized, it would become only the third UV filter considered GRASE (Generally Recognized as Safe and Effective) under modern FDA standards. In this wide-ranging conversation, Carmine and Carl unpack: Why sunscreen is regulated as a drug in the U.S. – and how that stalled innovation; What Category III really means (and why it doesn’t equal “unsafe”); The impact of systemic absorption studies and the 2019 JAMA sunscreen headlines; Why Americans have access to far fewer UV filters than Europe, S. Korea, or Australia; How bemotrizinol could enable better broad-spectrum protection and more wearable formulas, especially for melanated skin; What it actually takes – in time, data, and money – to shepherd a new sunscreen active through the FDA; And why this milestone could open the door to a new era of sunscreen innovation in the U.S. The episode also explores Carl’s unconventional career path – from the EPA to tobacco harm reduction to sunscreen regulation – along with the signature lightning round that touches on cycling, risk-taking, mentorship, and what it really means to play the long game in public health. This is a must-listen…

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