Thorne gets access to huge herbal database via joint venture

25-Feb-2013 - Last updated on 25-Feb-2013 at 15:50 GMT

Thorne Research has announced a partnership with Herbal Science Group that gives Thorne access to HSG’s extensive herbal science database, the companies announced recently.

The exclusive research, licensing, and distribution joint venture between Thorne, based in Sandpoint, ID, and HSG of Naples, FL, will discover and develop products from the extensive HSG natural chemistry libraries, using the company’s proprietary formulation and manufacturing technology to create consistent, reproducible extracts.

“It’s a combination of intellectual property and the ability to take herbs and do things no one has ever done before because of the ability to screen them and select for efficacy targets,” Paul Jacobsen, CEO of Thorne, told NutraIngredients-USA.

”The collaboration will build on the current Thorne brand to become one of the most respected and valued companies in the lifestyle medicine industry, while advancing Thorne’s goal of providing complete transparency on safety and efficacy issues relevant to the natural health products industry,” he said.

One product already on market

The collaboration has been under development for a while, Jacobsen said. It will extend to products in a number of categories.

“We are looking at performance athletics. We already have a product there now. We are also looking at cardiovascular areas, brain health and sleep support,” he said.

“This is sort of a launching point for medical foods as well. We will also be able to deliver these things in liquid form, like in little shots,” Jacobsen said.

“Our proprietary technology has enabled us to identify and maximize bioactives from multiple source materials to produce reliable and effective natural based health products with confirmed biological activity,” said Robert Gow, executive chairman of HSG.

The first product in the collaboration, Elevate, is in fact a shot product that is part of Thorne’s recently launched Performance line. The active ingredients in the shot are rhodiola extract (root) (Rhodiola rosea) Chinese salvia (dan shen) extract (root & rhizome) (Salvia miltiorrhiza) green tea extract (leaf) (Camellia sinensis) and reishi (fruiting body) extract (Ganoderma lucidum).

A key part of the plan is to leverage HSG’s screening technology with Thorne’s product development and marketing capabilities, Jacobsen said.

Thorne will be able to access HSG’s market-ready pipeline of more than 1,000 extracts for use in supplements, functional foods, beverages, medical foods, and other products. The HSG technology platform can tightly control for multiple active compounds in every extract, provide assay-based confirmation of biological activity during product manufacture, define human pharmacokinetics on all extracts, and facilitate the most sophisticated safety tracking program in the industry.

Consistent delivery

Consistency and reproducibility will be a hallmark of the products that will arise form the collaboration, Jacobsen said.

“They have the ability to identify of fractions of herbs. We will be able to deliver nutraceuticals consistently, dose by dose, every time,” he said.

And in keeping with their mission to deliver trusted products to medical professionals, HSG’s technology will help further insure that the products are free of contaminants, Jacobsen said.

“They also have the ability to screen for pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and drugs that are in the system. It will allow us to put out amazingly clean products,” Jacobsen said.