Practitioner channel specialist Xymogen continues strong growth curve, CEO says

By Hank Schultz

- Last updated on GMT

Practitioner channel specialist Xymogen continues strong growth curve, CEO says

Related tags Dietary supplement

Xymogen, a dietary supplement manufacturer that specializing in the practitioner channel, has announced a growth milestone with $7 million in revenue realized in the month of January. The company said this is the third consecutive January in which it has hit a new revenue record.

Xymogen was recognized by Inc. Magazine on its list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the country. The company recorded $5 million in sales in January 2013 and $6 million in January of last year.  Xymogen CEO Brian Blackburn said he expects the sales momentum to accelerate.

"With many initiatives in place as we launch 2015, I believe Xymogen will eclipse the $8 million mark in the third quarter of this year,”​ Blackburn said.

The company's revenues have been steadily increasing since its inception in 2003. While it is difficult to get verified revunue numbers on a private company, Xymogen said it has seen consistent sales growth for 44 consecutive quarters, and realized over 500% growth in the past five years. The company says its annual sales have risen from just over $5.2 million in 2004 to more than $68 million by the end of 2014. 

From distributor to manufacturer

The company markets slightly more than 200 different products running the gamut of the dietary supplement and functional foods sector.  Xymogen started manufacturing many of its own products in 2012, with the inauguration of a 136,000-square-foot facility in Orlando, FL. Part of the spur for that development was a recall for undeclared peanut allergens​ the company was forced to issue in 2011.

Taking on the manufacturing responsibility has given the company greater confidence in its finished products, Blackburn said.  The company had to issue another recall in 2013​ for undeclared allergens in a joint care product called artriphen, but that process was speeded by having operations in house, he said.

“Making the big leap of taking on your own manufacturing dramatically shifts the weight. As a result, we have been, since day one, stringently verifying the presence or absence of allergens in raw materials we purchase, along with bulk items or finished products received from third-party manufacturers, as part of our due diligence to ensure product safety and compliance with US Food and Drug Administration regulations,” ​Blackburn said.

The company’s growth from a labeler and distributor into a manufacturer has not been without some serious bumps in the road.  In 2011 the company received a warning letter from FDA​ detailing many violations in quality control and operations at its then labeling and distribution facility in Orlando.  The letter also cited a number of noncompliant disease claims for the company’s products made in its website.  Xymogen (parent company name: Atlantic Pro Nutrients) seemed to have learned its lesson, having received a close out letter on that action​ in August 2012.

Maintaining engagement

Blackburn said Xymogen now does some contract manufacturing and sells products overseas, but most of the company’s growth has come from the practitioner channel in North America.  Continuing education is part of the way Xymogen gets and keeps the loyalty of those customers, Blackburn said. The company has a unique program in which practitioners pay for continuing education courses that the company has held in various locations around the US.  The company charged $198 for the one day courses titled The Metabolic Nexus.

“I’ve always been opposed to giving anything away for free.  You want people to commit to the conference, you want people who are engaged in the subjects,”​ Blackburn told NutraIngredients-USA.

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