USPTO issues patent to ChromaDex’s pterostilbene

ChromaDexApr 6 2012

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted patent #8,133,917 pertaining to the ingredient pterostilbene, which is licensed exclusively to ChromaDex Corp. (OTCBB: CDXC), an innovative natural products company that provides proprietary, science-based solutions and ingredients to the dietary supplement, food & beverage, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, and marketer of BluScience (www.bluscience.com), its new line of dietary supplements.                   

This is the first ChromaDex-licensed patent issued for pterostilbene, while several more patents are pending.

The three key claims of the pterostilbene patent, which encompass both the nutraceutical market and the pharmaceuticals market, relate to:

1. A method of lowering lipid levels and to treat or reduce the risk of dyslipidemias in an individual through an effective amount of edible nutraceutical composition consisting of isolated or chemically-synthesized pterostilbene and a nutraceutically acceptable carrier;
2. A method of lowering lipid levels in an individual through an effective amount of edible pharmaceutical composition consisting of isolated or chemically-synthesized pterostilbene and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier; and 
3. A method to treat or reduce the risk of dyslipidemias in an individual at risk of cardiovascular disease through an effective amount of edible pharmaceutical composition consisting of isolated or chemically-synthesized pterostilbene and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

The patent application was initially filed in August 2004 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Subsequently, ChromaDex was granted an exclusive worldwide license to all rights in this patent of pterostilbene from the University of Mississippi and the Agricultural Research Service, which is the principal intramural scientific agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The term of the license is up to and including the expiration of various pterostilbene patents and patents pending held by the licensors.

ChromaDex's proprietary pterostilbene, branded as pTeroPure®, was named the 2010 North American Most Promising Ingredient of the Year by the independent research company Frost & Sullivan and is the key novel ingredient in BluScience, ChromaDex's new line of dietary supplements. 

Pterostilbene has superior biological activity, better oral bioavailability and metabolizes more slowly in the body than other antioxidant polyphenols (phytochemicals that tend to prevent or neutralize the damaging effects of free radicals), allowing more time for its antioxidant activities to act. Along with a number of other effects, pterostilbene has shown great promise for supporting cardiovascular health, cognitive function and anti-aging.

Research chemist Agnes Rimando first encountered pterostilbene when she was a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Rimando works with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, housed in the University of Mississippi National Center for Natural Products Research. When studies in the 1990s suggested that the compound resveratrol provided substantial health benefits, Rimando began experimenting with pterostilbene in hopes of finding similar activity.

In 2003, Rimando asked Dennis Feller, former University of Mississippi professor and chair of pharmacology, and Wallace Yokoyama at USDA Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., to collaborate on studies of the compound, targeting a particular protein in cells that is involved in fatty acid metabolism and transport called Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Alpha Isoform (PPAR-alpha). Results of their work were presented at the American Chemical Society meeting in 2004 and attracted widespread attention, including coverage on national and international TV and radio stations, and mentions in Time, Parade and other consumer magazines.