Ultra Violette announced on 31 August 2026 that it had launched Unblock Screen SPF 50 in the US, the first sunscreen on the American market to contain bemotrizinol, usually shortened to BEMT. Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ultra-violette-becomes-first-brand-in-the-us-to-launch-a-sunscreen-containing-newly-fda-approved-filter-bemotrizinol-302865398.html.
The regulatory background matters here. In the US, sunscreen is regulated as an over-the-counter drug, and a filter can only be used if it is listed in the FDA's sunscreen monograph. The FDA issued a final administrative order, OTC000039, adding BEMT to that monograph in June, published in the Federal Register on 10 June 2026. It allows BEMT at concentrations up to 6% in products for anyone aged six months and older, and it took effect on 9 August 2026, according to regulatory consultancy CIRS Group. The brand describes BEMT as the first new sunscreen filter cleared by the FDA in over 25 years.
Unblock Screen went on sale at ultraviolettespf.com and Sephora.com on 31 August, priced at $40. It reaches Sephora stores nationwide on 2 October. A second BEMT product, Fave Screen SPF 50 with 5% BEMT, is scheduled for January 2027.
So the rule took effect on 9 August and the first product was on sale on 31 August. Twenty-two days.
The 22 days are not the story
It is tempting to read that as a feat of speed. A small brand beat the big sun care houses to market with a new filter in a little over three weeks.
Co-founder Bec Jefferd explained what actually happened: "We have developed products using BEMT in our global range for close to 10 years, which is why we've been able to move fast not just with the launch of Unblock Screen, but with a pipeline of BEMT-powered products to soon follow."
That is the whole lesson in one sentence. Ultra Violette, founded in Australia in 2019 by Ava Matthews and Bec Jefferd, already worked with the filter in markets where it was permitted. When the US door opened, the brand was not starting a formulation project. It was adapting knowledge it already had, and it already had a US retail relationship to put the product into. The brand entered the US in 2025 at Sephora nationwide, with five products formulated for American consumers.
The 22 days were the visible part. The ten years were the part that made them possible.
Why regulatory openings favour the prepared
Rule changes feel sudden to the people who were not watching them. They almost never are.
The BEMT order did not appear from nowhere in June. It went through a proposal stage and a public comment period before it was finalised, and anyone following US sunscreen regulation could see it coming. The same is true of most changes that matter to beauty brands: ingredient restrictions, new permitted ingredients, labelling rules, packaging requirements. They are published as proposals, consulted on, and then given an effective date.
That timeline creates two groups of brands. The first group reads the proposal, works out what it would mean for them, and starts preparing on the assumption it will pass. The second group waits for certainty, then starts work once the final decision lands. By the time the second group has a product, the first group has shelf space, press coverage and the "first" claim that only one brand ever gets to make.
For a new permitted ingredient, like BEMT, the prize is being first to offer something customers could not previously buy. For a new restriction, the same logic works in reverse: the brand that reformulated early keeps selling while its competitors are pulling stock.
Being first is a short window
It is worth being honest about how long that advantage lasts.
BEMT is not proprietary to Ultra Violette. The ingredient supplier dsm-firmenich markets it as Parsol Shield, as Drug Topics has reported, which means any brand with a capable formulator can now build a BEMT sunscreen for the US. Under the monograph route, a compliant product does not need its own new drug application, as consultancy ProPharma Group notes. The barrier to following is formulation, testing and time, not permission.
So the first mover window is measured in months, not years. What Ultra Violette gets from being first is the headline, the retailer's attention during the window when BEMT is news, and the chance to be the brand customers associate with the filter before the shelf fills up. It has clearly planned for that, with a second BEMT product already dated for January 2027. Once the category catches up, the product has to win on the same terms as everything else: texture, price, finish and whether people repurchase.
That is not a reason to skip the opportunity. It is a reason to be clear about what you are buying when you rush to be first.
What this means if you are not in sun care
Most founders reading this do not make sunscreen. The pattern still applies, because every category has a regulatory pipeline, and most brands only look at it when a deadline is imminent.
A practical version for a £500k to £5m brand looks like this.
Keep a short list of the changes that could affect you. Not every consultation in every market, just the ones that touch your ingredients, your claims, your packaging or the markets you sell into. For most brands that is five to ten items at any one time.
For each one, decide which way it cuts. Some changes are threats, where you will need to reformulate, relabel or withdraw. Some are openings, where a new ingredient, format or claim becomes available. A few are both.
For the openings, do the preparation before certainty arrives. That might mean asking your manufacturer whether they have experience with the ingredient in other markets, running early stability work, or simply raising it with your retail buyer so they know you intend to move. None of that is expensive compared with the cost of arriving second.
For the threats, the logic is the same. A brand that reformulates during the consultation period keeps trading through the deadline. A brand that waits often ends up paying for rushed reformulation, a gap in stock, or both.
The part only a founder can decide
The harder question is how much to spend on something that might not happen. Proposals do get changed, delayed or dropped.
The honest answer is that preparation for an opening is an option, not a commitment. You are paying a small amount now for the right to move quickly later. For a brand whose positioning depends on formulation, like a sun care or active skincare brand, that option is often worth buying, because being first with a new ingredient is one of the few ways a small brand can outrun a much larger one.
Ultra Violette did not beat the big houses to market because it was bigger or faster. It beat them because it had already done the work in other markets, for years, and was ready when the US caught up.
The plain version
The BEMT rule took effect on 9 August. The first product was on sale on 31 August. The formulation knowledge behind it took close to ten years.
If a regulatory change could open a door in your category, the time to prepare is while it is still a proposal. By the time it is final, the brands that were ready are already on the shelf.