SCOLR expands glucosamine distribution
chondroitin in a third national chain store, the company said.
Biopharmaceutical company SCOLR is to market its glucosamine and chondroitin in a third national chain store, the company said.
SCOLR did not name the retailer, who declined to be identified to protect competitive marketing, but the deal comes just a few months after the company signed Wal-Mart and Trader Joe to retail its CDT glucosamine & chondroitin.
The CDT glucosamine and chondroitin will be offered in a 12-hour formulation of 500mg glucosamine with 400mg chondroitin tablets. It is expected to be on the new retailer's shelves early in this year's third quarter.
Glucosamine is used in supplement form to treat osteoarthritis. National sales of glucosamine increased from around $630 million in 1999 to an estimated projection of $1.58 billion in 2001, according to Frost & Sullivan figures cited by the company. The SCOLR CDT (Controlled Delivery Technology) glucosamine & chondroitin is said to extend the release of glucosamine in the gastro-intestinal tract.
"The initial market availability of this product in Wal-Mart and Trader Joe's national retail chains is creating the momentum and demand for the product," said David Howard, president and CEO of SCOLR.
"We believe that the important manufacturing advantages provided by our CDT technologies and platforms will result in additional partnerships to develop additional unique products utilizing these platforms."
He added that both early non-pharmaceutical royalty streams and possible divestiture of probiotic assets would provide some extra capital for the current business strategy.
Stephen J. Turner, SCOLR director of Product Development, said that retailers are considering replacing immediate release products or adding controlled release products as premium niche items.
"Our patented CDT technologies have no payload restrictions and consist of a 2-step process utilizing GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) ingredients and excipients. This results in lower manufacturing costs very comparable to immediate release products. In addition, once daily dosage products have better patient compliance, and can result in better customer satisfaction which can result in better sell-through for the retailer."
SCOLR's patented products are available from more than 6,000 retailers under their private, store brand labels.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is currently undertaking a $6.6 million glucosamine trial scheduled for completion in 2005. The trial calls for a three times a day dosing regime for the subjects.
SCOLR adds that as glucosamine is a Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) Class1 compound, which having highly permeable and soluble characteristics has been shown to have rapid clearance from the bloodstream. BCS Class1 drugs and compounds have been shown to benefit from the addition of a method of controlled release to help decrease the amount of the ingredient lost through the body's waste elimination processes, according to the company.
