ChromaDex sells pterostilbene product line in favor of ingredients business
The sale “strengthens our balance sheet and, in particular, our cash position. Coupled with our recent $5.0 million in debt financing from Hercules Technology Growth Capital, we believe that we are well positioned to fund our operations at least through 2015, as our business transitions to cash flow positive and profitability," Frank Jaksch, Jr., ceo and co-founder of ChromaDex explained.
Back to business
The cash from the sale, along with the fact that resources will no longer be directed to tangential BluScience products, will enable ChromaDex to direct fuller attention on its proprietary ingredient business. The company is also planning to speed up its novel ingredient development and production.
"We continue to see strong demand for our novel ingredient technologies… and we expect both revenue growth and business development activity to continue to increase in 2015," Jaksch stated.
Anti-aging skin care
Pterostilbene and similar ingredients will continue to be sold by ChromaDex. A quick search on the company site turns up ten available iterations of the antioxidant. ChromaDex bought worldwide licencing rights to pTeroPure pterostilbene in 2013 from Green Molecular, a biotech company focused on natural polyphenols.
As a personal care ingredient, pterostilbene addresses the effects of photoaging (chronic exposure to UV radiation). And ChromaDex is looking to have a significant role in that market. “By building a robust skincare IP portfolio, we are positioning to become a meaningful provider of patent protected innovative ingredient technologies to this growing multi-billion dollar market place,” Jaksch said about the company’s purchase of the rights to pTeroPure.
Since then researchers at the University of California Irvine have finished a study “demonstrating that topical application of pterostilbene onto mouse skin, prior to UV exposure, prevented several types of UV-mediated damage,” reported Cosmetics Design deputy editor Andy McDougall in September.
Fruity goodness
BluScience is a dietary supplement line centred on pterostilbene, an antioxidant derived from blueberries. The supplements, intended to support anti-aging, weight management, etc., are made with an alternative form of the ingredient. “pTeroPure is nature identical, meaning it is the same as the pterostilbene found in nature, both in structure and function,” according to the BlueScience site.
These supplements will continue to generate revenue for ChromaDex following the sale to nutritional science company NeutriSci International. ChromaDex has a “6 percent royalty agreement on future net sales of BluScience products and its supply agreement with NeutriSci on ChromaDex's patented pTeroPure pterostilbene ingredient,” the press statement reads.
