In the early 1920s, pharmacist Alexis Moussalli joined the Millot pharmaceutical laboratories in Paris. Leveraging his expertise of rare-earth elements, he invented a beauty cream laden with thorium chloride and radium bromide. In order to start his own brand and as a marketing device, he associated with Alfred Curie, a medical doctor, homonymous to Pierre and Marie Curie but with no connection to them. Pierre and Marie Curie apparently considered legal action against the company. Alfred Curie was to register the Tho-Radia brand on 29 November 1932 and approved the mention "after Dr Alfred Curie's formula" on the packaging and publicities.