Photonz Corp. to Market Pharma-Grade Algae EPA
The New Zealand-based company is gearing up for industrial production of pharmaceutical-grade algal omega-3.
The algae omega-3 market appears to be spreading as fast as the stuff grows on my fish tank.
New Zealand-based Photonz Corp. (Auckland) last week announced that it is staged to begin production of a pharmaceutical-grade algal omega-3 eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The ingredient will be marketed for pharmaceutical applications relating to cardiovascular disease.
The company is employing supercritical extraction technology from Separex S.A. (Champigneulles, France) to produce the concentrated EPA from Photonz’s algae strains.
“Separex has extensive experience in working with this type of oil, currently derived from non-algal sources, such as fish,” says Photonz chief executive Greg Moss-Smith. “That experience is of considerable importance because, to meet the needs of the cardiovascular disease market, our product will have to be identical to fish-derived product.”
Separex is expected to reach industrial scale production of the ingredient in late 2011, before the technology is transferred to a contract manufacturer.
