Natural health products
Supplemental content
Contact us
If you’re interested in commercializing science-backed NHPs and FIs, expanding your network, accessing our advanced scientific infrastructure or connecting with our experts, contact:
Jason Steele
Telephone: 902-402-1714
Email: Jason.Steele@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Targeted industries
Agriculture, natural health products, food and grocery, bioactive ingredients, health and wellness, dietary supplements, personal care, functional foods and beverages.
Locations
Companies involved in Canada’s Natural Health Product (NHP) and Functional Ingredient (FI) industries can count on NRC to help them develop, differentiate and create value for their existing or in-development products. We apply our technical expertise to provide partners and clients with custom analytical, preclinical and lab-scale R&D services. Our team also connects companies with reputable contract research organizations (CROs), clinical trial sites and regulatory service providers, helping to ensure their success in the industry.
Partnership opportunity
NRC is developing new project opportunities with current and prospective partners and clients. They range from small to large companies with significant ties to Canada, and include dietary supplement manufacturers, functional ingredient developers and suppliers, and firms commercializing other NHP-related products.
As NHP and FI consumers become better educated, they increasingly seek science-backed products. For that reason, NRC is seeking partners and clients who are actively engaged in discovering, developing and commercializing NHPs and FIs. Opportunities include:
- Developing new high-value NHPs;
- Differentiating products through science-supported NHPs and FIs;
- Creating NHP and FI product line extensions and new formulations; and
- Developing FIs from Canadian bioresources and waste streams.
NRC is strongly committed to supporting the NHP and FI industry through our technical and project advisory services. We are eager to partner with qualified companies to co-develop new products Footnote 1 and enabling technologies Footnote 2 that will support new innovations and meet consumer needs.
Partner and client benefits
NRC partners will have access to our multidisciplinary expertise and advanced research equipment. By making use of our offerings, partners and clients will be able to shorten product development cycles, competitively differentiate current or future NHP product lines and accelerate time-to-market entry. Companies may also benefit from reduced capital costs, reduced R&D timelines and better-supported science claims for their products.
In addition, we offer partners the opportunity to co-locate with us. Our Canada-wide network of industrial partnership facilities enables manufacturers and developers to set up on-site at NRC, enhancing project participation and expanding their R&D presence.
Through NRC advisory services, our partners and clients find support for NHP and FI development and commercialization activities, from the product idea and evaluation phase through to research projects and on to regulatory strategies. We are always strengthening our network of service providers supporting the NHP and FI industry in Canada.
Other services and facilities
Research services
Ingredients: NRC helps partners and clients with the identification and chemical, physical and biological characterization of novel functional and bioactive ingredients. We can also produce natural ingredients and proteins by using our fermentation and cell culture systems.
Identification and validation: Our research experts design, validate and run novel in vitro and in vivo assays to identify new bioactive and functional ingredients, as well as added activities for existing ingredients. We assess those ingredients’ efficacy and mechanism of action, and provide preclinical, non-GLP safety pharmacology and toxicology services to de-risk product development.
Formulation: Combining ingredients that have known benefits is not enough to ensure they work together. The best products are supported by formulation, bioavailability, and pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics studies to determine the ideal combinations, dose amounts and dosing periods for optimal efficacy at the smallest dose. NRC offers this support through our NHP initiative.
Processing: Efficient, safe, economical and environmentally friendly processes are required to manufacture natural health products and functional ingredients. NRC helps partners and clients in developing processes at the lab level for transfer to good manufacturing practice (GMP) facilities.
QA\QC: Quality assurance and quality control are critical for manufacturing safe and efficacious NHPs and FIs. We help partners develop methods to support quality control, bioactive ingredient standardization, and the safety and authenticity of raw ingredients. We can also help partners in developing standardized reference materials to support QA/QC methods. Moving forward, NRC is interested in working with companies to develop more complex analytical fingerprinting methods to fully characterize complex ingredients and final product mixtures.
Project advisory services
We have strengthened our ability to help partners and clients manage their product development efforts. This can involve working together to evaluate ideas and product/project risks, or to develop regulatory and health claim strategies.
While product R&D and preclinical research are our primary strengths, we are actively expanding our network so we can support NRC partners who want to take a product idea from discovery R&D and pre-clinical development through to clinical studies, commercialization and manufacturing.
Footnotes
- Footnote 1
-
NRC may share pre-clinical development risk through co-investment in R&D, which requires a thorough scientific, regulatory, commercialization and partner assessment.
- Footnote 2
-
NRC may share development risk for select opportunities through co-investment in R&D.
Contact
Jason Steele
Telephone: 902-402-1714
Email: Jason.Steele@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
- Date modified:
