In an effort to connect with their fast growing community of passionate early adopters, the folks at Chromadex (Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs) (Reviews)) are interested in any questions / advice / criticism you may have in advance of their August earnings call. IR Head Brianna Gerber and CEO Rob Fried have agreed to consider anything posted in the comments section below as they prepare for their earnings presentation. A transcript of the August call will be published here soon after its conclusion.
Please leave your questions / advice / criticism for Chromadex in the comments section below.
Brianna and Rob will review your comments this week.
Also, please share your own NR experience with others HERE. Your story will be highlighted in a future blog post. Thank you.
RELATED:
- FAQs on taking NAD boosting vitamin supplement Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) can be found HERE.
- NR supplementation may have helped sufferers of these diseases & conditions (Consumer Reviews)
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Hong Ma
1. Why there is no progress in NR derivatives development in the last few years while patent life ticks away? NR patent will expire in 6 years. Is it wise to use 100% resources on Tru Niagen right now? It is time to develop NRH to avoid a crash in revenue and stock price when NR patent expires.
2. The heart failure and cognitive impairment trials have been completed over one year ago. Will they be published anytime soon?
Dude
— What is going on with NRH and NAR? Will they be sold as supplements? Is a pharma partner a possibility?
— Is Chromadex looking into extending the NR patent somehow?
Milarepa
Why is it taking longer than expected to develop a version of Niagen that is stable in liquid? Aren’t there some basic tools that are used to solve this problem, like encapsulation? Why aren’t those tools working? Or has Nestle made this less of a priority? What can you share?
Milarepa
Last call you said you weren’t entirely sure what Elysium would be arguing against the patents in Delaware. But now you have seen their invalidity contentions. Based on what you now know, do you still feel that the challenged patents are very strong, or do you think that Elysium has raised issues that will have to be taken seriously be a judge or jury before resolving the matter? Stated another way, are you as confident of the outcome in Delaware as you are in California?
Marshmallow
A tip for ChromaDex – you are probably looking at government purchase contracts for NIAGEN in the near future. To get prepped, you might want to figure out what ISO audits you will need to complete to sell to the government, and start the paperwork process for them now. For example, you might need an ISO 9001-2015 certification before you can sell NIAGEN to government groups like Homeland Security or FEMA or the military. Good luck with your mission, if you decide to accept it. 😉
Milarepa
Why not launch the Skin, Hair, Nails product in the US?
Ig
Are NR studies regarding COVID-19 moving fast enough to make a difference?
Why has the progress made thus far regarding NR and COVID-19 failed to grab widespread media attention? Do you feel it’s newsworthy?
Many Tru Niagen users feel like the product is waiting for a breakthrough in terms of public awareness. Do you agree? And if yes, what do you see as the number one thing that needs to happen to achieve that breakthrough?
Milarepa
What is preventing some big newspaper like the New York Times or even the San Jose Mercury from running a story about NR based on the Brenner pregnant mice story, if not COVID? If that’s too hard, why not Popular Science, New Scientist, Scientific American, or Discover? Is it that these approaches are blocked, too difficult, too expensive, or not a priority?
Jeff Gilligan
1. What do you foresee as the expiration date if patent exclusivity for NR? Do you think NRH will eventually far eclipse NR in efficacy?
2. Assuming the NIH trial is positive, do you have a guess how long it would take for a human in vivid trial to be completed? Has the NIH indicated an possible interest in conducting a human in vivi trial?
Stephan Litjens
What are the activities in Europe to accelerate sales? It would seem that Niagen is somewhat online available but how is the audience educated on the benefits? Is that online advertisement? Health practitioners?
CS
Cross-boarder sales into China do not seem to be an effective response to the multiple (non-licensed) native NR sellers. What progress should we expect on geographical expansion into China, with Watsons or other local distributors?
Stephan
Is there a possibility for Chromadex to make a deal with a large pharmaceutical for a flu medication? It would seem that is a multi billion market globally. It can be based on high dose NR or then NRH.
Stephan
I decided to expand on the previous post I did. Should CDXC consider to setup a pharmaceutical division? NR and I assume NRH show promise in a range of diseases and hence could be developed as phamaceuticals. I understand that this is too costly for CDXC as hence I suggest a different approach. The program would firstly
– identify promising disease targets
– compile a technology package consisting out of various NR/NRH patient administration methods and formulations e.g. oral, as well metabolites measurement methods and tools
– license terms
– ingredient supply
In other words it’s a development kit / platform. Once that is established your sales team would approach relevant pharmaceuticals and try to strike agreements were the pharmaceutical does the trials etc and the goto market/sales as they know that best. Given the wide applicability of NAD+ on health I could imagine you can create a promising revenue pipeline. Long term play but likely highly profitable and market cap boosting.
MIlarepa
It has been a year since Dr. Brunie Felding joined the ChromaDex Scientific Advisory Board. But it has been many years since we have heard about anything that the Felding Lab is doing that is NR-related. What should we know about Dr. Felding’s current research?
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/07/23/1886271/0/en/ChromaDex-Appoints-Scripps-Research-Professor-of-Molecular-Medicine-Brunie-H-Felding-PhD-to-the-Scientific-Advisory-Board.html
Dan
When will there be a Tru Niagen formulation with better bioavailability?
Ig
When can we expect to see results from the new NIH Covid study?
Michael
Thanks for taking questions and thanks to Ezra for facilitating.
1. Can you give us an update regarding China approval?
2. Have any NR vs. CoV trials started outside of Denmark?
3. On the q4 conference call Frank Jaksch mentioned trial results that you guys are excited about but are stuck in peer review. On Dr. Drew you mentioned another NIH study that is also stuck in peer review. Other than the two mentioned above are their any other completed human trials with results you’re excited about also stuck in peer review? If so how many?
Mark Molinaro
What are your thoughts on the structural changes required – as well as the timing and costs of transitioning and re-branding ChromaDex from a R&D/Science-based company to a Product, Sales & Marketing focused company? What is your, the Board’s and the executive team’s experience in this type of transition? Would you consider a name change as part it?
Ross
Is it smart to waste time and resources on NR, when the patents expire in a few years? Why not just focus on NRH?
Jim
you’ve talked about relying somewhat on word of mouth to really get things going here. is the company doing anything to directly encourage word of mouth? seems like this is the classic Seth Godin type Tribes situation.
From Amazon about Godin’s book Tribes:
“Tribes will make you think—really think—about the opportunities to mobilize an audience that are already at your fingertips. It’s not easy, but it’s easier than you think.”
Ig
On another forum, 3 months ago (aka before Brenner’s first biorxiv publication came out) I made this post:
“Quick poll: gimme a thumbs up if you take NR and believe it has boosted your immunity. Gimme a thumbs down if you take NR and think it has not helped your immunity”
That post got 36 thumbs up compared to 3 thumbs down.
If we’re right, then this is something that could really help the world right now. And this sentiment probably explains why some folks feel impatient at times.
Leong Chan Teik
Thanks for taking questions and thanks to Ezra for facilitating.
1. Is NR impossible via sublingual – ie, break the capsule, tip the powder under the tongue & it gets absorbed thru the blood vessels?
Note: btw, there is a SPECIAL patented sublingual delivery by iX Biopharma (operates in Australia, listed in Singapore)
Tom B
how does covid-19 impact your marketing strategy? you’ve relied on Watsons to do a lot of your marketing in HK. it’s plausible you were planning to rely on them to market for you in Europe. if brick and mortar traffic in europe doesn’t come back to normal due to the virus what alternative marketing plans do you have?
Dan
What do the NR patents cover – it seems to be all oral administration, but we see a lot of non Chromadex sources of NR. Can you these violators be prosecuted?
David44
My question is where is CDXC on the low hanging fruit of NR for pets and/or livestock? Aren’t there potential companies to partner with?
izzers tennis score keeper
RE Leong’s question: “1. Is NR impossible via sublingual – ie, break the capsule, tip the powder under the tongue & it gets absorbed thru the blood vessels? ”
For the past two weeks I have dissolved my 300 mg capsule of Truniagen in a shot glass in 1/2 ounce water (I stir for 30 seconds with a chopstick). I pour under tongue and hold for 20 minutes. (Sometimes all powder is not fully dissolved so I rub it around with tongue to compete the dissolving.) I think I like the results even better than dissolving in water and swallowing immediately. (DH trying it, too.) Any way to test if that gives better absorption? It is not hard to do. (I first tried pouring the powder directly under tongue but found that a bit irritating.)
Michael
Can you please put out press releases that regular people off the street that have never heard about NR, much less pronounce nicotinamide riboside, can understand? Why aren’t you distributed more widely in the US – should be on many, many more store’s shelves. When will the Nestle marketing begin? If something does not happen at the times you state, you need to communicate that better – i.e. Brenner’s second paper, product launches, etc. Why are you afraid to state which professional teams are testing the product – is publicity somehow bad?
Richard
Thank your for doing this Ezra…
I think one of the biggest open questions is about where the partnership with Watsons is headed since that would have the largest impact on driving the top line. So, far, the limited distribution to mainly Hong Kong has been a huge success and we’re excited about the 200 Store trial at SuperDrug in the UK, but could you enlighten us a little bit more on what’s next?
1) If the 200 store pilot program is successful, will you start offering TRU Niagen at the full 800+ Superdrug stores? How soon might that be?
2) Is there anything holding up sales across other Brand Stores in EU? For instance, is there already an agreement in place that TRU Niagen will be offered in Watsons across EU and it is more of a question of “when” and not “if”?
3) For EU, and to be more specific, there are 3900 Rossmann stores across Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Albania and another 1200 Kruidvat Watson Brand stores across Netherlands & Belgium. Could you at least give some guidance if a trial with those Watson store chains might be possible in 2020?
4) And what about Watsons in Asia? Is that still a real possibility.? You were very close to offering it in Taiwan. How is ChromaDex handling the regulations to sell there? And what about Philippines? That could be another big Asian market. Is that on the table?
Thanks so much!!
Richard
As for additional questions… I would love to see some update on how they are working with sports teams… especially with COVID-19 affecting teams. Baseball is about to begin their games next week and I believe over 60 professional baseball players have already tested positive. Are you getting any feedback from the teams that are using TRU Niagen that they are seeing less cases or less severe cases? And what is the possibility that a major league team would come forward and give their story to the sports media about how they use TRU Niagen to help with their recovery and prevent illness? That could be a game changer once it hits the media. Any new anecdotal sports stories that can be shared?
Ronjon
are there any studies on niagen’s affect on serotonin levels? This would tie together nicely with research involving, circadian rhythm, sleep, anxiety, and probably most others?
Djordje
Is there any consideration to perform a meta analysis of recent / ongoing / planned NR Human trials to look for reduction of COVID related adverse events / severity?