ChromaDex secures first patent for pterostilbene cardio benefits
The star ingredient in ChromaDex’s new BluScience range of dietary supplements, pTeroPure is being targeted at manufacturers of supplements and food/beverages interested in cardiovascular health, cognitive function and anti-aging.
Cardiovascular health benefits
US patent #8,133,917, issued on March 13, is the first of several patents the firm hopes to secure surrounding pterostilbene.
The patent application was initially filed in 2004 by the US Department of Agriculture, which subsequently granted an exclusive worldwide license to all rights in the patent to ChromaDex.
It covers three key claims:
- A method of lowering lipid levels and to treat or reduce the risk of dyslipidemias (eg. raised LDL cholesterol, triglycerides) via a nutraceutical composition containing pterostilbene and a carrier.
- A method of lowering lipid levels via a pharmaceutical composition containing pterostilbene and a carrier.
- A method to treat or reduce the risk of dyslipidemias in an individual at risk of cardiovascular disease via a pharmaceutical composition containing pterostilbene and a carrier.
Superior biological activity
A potent antioxidant, pterostilbene is claimed to have superior biological activity, better oral bioavailability and metabolizes more slowly in the body than other polyphenols.
Research chemist Agnes Rimando – who is named as one of the investors on the patent – first started studying it as a graduate student at the University of Illinois in Chicago in a bid to determine if it worked in similar ways to resveratrol.
In 2003, Rimando asked Dennis Feller, former University of Mississippi professor and chair of pharmacology, and Wallace Yokoyama at USDA Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California, to collaborate on studies of pterostilbene, targeting a protein involved in fatty acid metabolism and transport called Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Alpha Isoform (PPAR-alpha).
Results of their work were presented at the American Chemical Society meeting in 2004 and garnered widespread attention.
Commercialization
ChromaDex has since pumped large sums into commercializing pTeroPure pterostilbene, both as a branded ingredient for sale to food and supplement makers and as the core ingredient in BluScience.
Launched at GNC last fall, BlueScience is now being rolled out in Walgreens stores across the US and are also on sale at Drugstore.com.
Click here to read the patent.
