Conagen announces development of fermentation-derived vitamin K2

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- Biotech innovator Conagen has announced the development of its fermentation-derived vitamin K2 – a high-purity all-trans menaquinone-7 (MK-7).

According to a statement, this is the first molecule from a proprietary platform for producing novel, pure, long-chain menaquinone forms of the vitamin.

The platform enables low-cost manufacturing and yields high-quality products, making it attractive to health brands.

“We’re demonstrating our capabilities with innovative technologies that expand market choices in nutrition.

“Our fermentation and bioconversion platforms have also produced the clean nutrient ergothioneine and the antioxidant taxifolin, further demonstrating the versatility of our platform technologies,” said senior vice president of innovation at Conagen, Casey Lippmeier, Ph.D.

Vitamin K2 helps to regulate calcium mobility in bones and restricts calcium buildup in blood vessels, leading to stroke and heart disease.

MK-7 is the more bioavailable form of K2 on the market; the other major form is MK-4, which both have taken a strong position in the markets for bone and cardiovascular health.

Personalised nutrition is popular with consumers looking for technological breakthroughs in functional foods and nutrition. Conagen’s cost-effective fermentation-derived MK-7 provides new opportunities for brands to develop products to meet the demand of the growing aging population.

The company’s research into the MK-7 production process was done in part as a three-year collaboration with the lab of Prof Anthony Sinskey at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

More details at www.conagen.com.

-- BERNAMA