During last night’s quarterly earnings call, a fund manager asked Chromadex CEO Rob Fried about the efficacy of NMN (FAQs, Anecdotes). NMN is, of course, an NAD+ boosting supplement that competes with Chromadex’s NAD+ booster Nicotinamide Riboside (FAQs + Dosage) (Life-Changing Anecdotes). Here’s what CEO Fried said in response:

From Chromadex’s Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call:

Bill Dezellem – Fund Manager

“Rob, would you please highlight what’s happening with NMN in China?

I had the impression that the authorities there, were pushing back on some of the marketing practices for NMN.

And I’m wondering what, if any window of opportunity is that creating for Sino?

Rob Fried – CEO, Chromadex

It’s not just Sino that’s selling, by the way, cross-border into China. H&H is a deal we made that is also selling cross-border in China.

And H&H is actually doing quite well with Niagen (NR) into China.

It’s actually doing better than Sino already.

Watsons has also begun selling a little bit of cross-border into China of Tru Niagen (NR).

So, we’re seeing overall growth.

NMN in general?

Yes.

There are literally hundreds of sellers in China selling cross-border into China.

And the government has cracked down on claims.

Initially, they were making a lot of claims that were basically Tru Niagen claims, including, companies advertising that Li Ka-shing was taking NMN, which is obviously not true.

He takes Tru Niagen.

And they have pulled back.

However, the thing to understand is that NMN works.

NMN is a precursor to NAD.

It’s just very inferior to Niagen (NR).

In fact, NMN is Niagen plus a phosphate group attached to the perimeter.

So, some companies, in order to make NMN, they start with NR or Niagen, and they literally add the phosphate on top of it.

The problem with that phosphate is that it blocks transport into the cell.

So once it’s in the blood, once you consume NMN and it’s circulating through the body, it doesn’t have a way to enter cells.

So, within the body, the phosphate is pulled apart, and what is left is Niagen, is Nicotinamide Riboside “NR” (FAQs) (Reviews), which then gets upregulated into the cell and elevates NAD.

So it’s basically inefficient NR.

But it does work.

We believe that it works.

We don’t know, if it’s as safe as NR — there’s some questions about that (editor note: He’s referencing THIS).

But we do believe that it works.

So it just doesn’t work as well.

So for that reason, with the passage of time, you are going to see studies come out that show that NMN has a positive benefit.

It’s never going to have as positive a benefit as Tru Niagen (NR), but it will have a positive benefit.

So, yes, there were some problems with claims in marketing in China.

But we don’t expect that to be a long-term problem as NMN studies come out.

Now, NMN is now banned in the United States, and so it’s not an issue for us here.

But it is an issue there in China.

Look, the market is already a very big market.

The overall NAD market, I expect it to be tens if not even hundreds of billions of dollars in the future.

At this point, there’s so much research out there.

But if you’re on this call right now and you’re not taking Tru Niagen or you don’t understand the benefits of elevating NAD, when your body is under any kind of physiological stress, you’re not thinking properly.

Because we now understand that elevating your NAD levels by taking Tru Niagen (NR) makes you healthier.

So, I expect that NMN is going to be around in China for the long-term.

The question is what percentage of the market does it have.

Right now we have a very small percentage — but a growing percentage of the market there between those three partners.

We’re hoping that soon Sino really gets aggressive and starts capturing a big chunk of the market.”

Disclosure: No position

Related:

FOLLOW us on Twitter @RaisingNAD