Biotech startup Cardax Inc. is going to market with its first commercial product since its inception in March 2010.
The Honolulu-based company planned to announce today the launch of ZanthoSyn, which the company describes as a safe anti-inflammatory for general health.
“We are very pleased to launch this exciting product,” said David G. Watumull, president and CEO of Cardax.
Cardax said ZanthoSyn is a synthetic nature-identical astaxanthin dietary supplement with superior absorption and purity.
Astaxanthin is normally produced in fresh water, such as ponds or streams, by microalgae. The streams empty into the ocean, where the astaxanthin is eaten by krill and other small crustaceans and taken up the food chain where it protects animals from strong inflammatory processes.
Cardax said that in a study on humans its product achieved a blood level of astaxanthin that was nearly three times higher than a leading microalgal astaxanthin dietary supplement. Cardax said this means that two 12 mg capsules of ZanthoSyn deliver nearly the same amount of astaxanthin to the bloodstream as six 12 mg capsules of microalgal astaxanthin.
The study was sponsored by Cardax and led by Dr. Jon L. Ruckle, Cardax’s lead medical adviser since 2013. Ruckle is former medical director of the Covance Clinical Research Unit in Honolulu and has been a principal investigator of more than 350 clinical trials.
“These results demonstrate a highly significant and clinically meaningful advantage for ZanthoSyn,” Ruckle said. “We were also pleased to see very consistent subject-to-subject absorption profiles.”
Cardax, which has no revenue, has lost $55.1 million since it was founded and has furloughed employees, cut salaries and suspended equity compensation while seeking to raise money to continue its research.
ZanthoSyn is available over the counter through Cardax’s commercial website, zanthosyn.com. The product received a GRAS (generally regarded as safe) designation as part of a Food and Drug Administration process.
Cardax’s thinly traded stock closed Tuesday at 11 cents, up 1 cent, on a volume of 126,800 shares.
