Herbal player patent win opens contract manufacturing doors

15-Sep-2009 - Last updated on 16-Sep-2009 at 15:36 GMT

Florida-based RZN Nutraceuticals has won a US patent for a process that improves the bioavailability of herbal products and which it says will drive contract manufacturing business.

The Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark office relates to its proprietary HerbaZorb absorption and delivery system it already uses to manufacture some of its own branded herbal supplements.

“This process protects herbal ingredients that may be used in foods and food supplements so that absorption rates are improved in the body,” RZN president, Robert Hunt, told NutraIngredients-USA.com.

“It helps the body recognise herbal products as foods and not as foreign substances and therefore boosts bioavailability.”

Hunt said this was particularly significant in products taken to ease, for instance, headaches, where poor bioavailability usually meant ineffectiveness, and therefore consumer apathy toward certain herbal products.

He said discussions had begun with dietary supplements manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies to use the process that had already been tested on botanicals such as juniper, golden rod, dandelion, meadow sweet and willow bark.

The company said it sought a stake in the glucosamine and chondroitin-dominated natural joint health market with its product, Arthri-Zen Relief.

In a statement Hunt said: “We believe that HerbaZorb will provide a significant competitive advantage both as a performance-enhancing characteristic for their products and as a recognizable branded feature that consumers will begin to look for on packaging at the retail level. We look forward to working with those in the industry interested in harnessing the breakthrough advances in absorption offered by HerbaZorb.”