Wellington
One way to test the properties of a biological product, such as a honey or native plant extract,is to feed it to an animal or human and measure (hopefully) the results.
This takes a fair bit of time, and quite possibly money.
Another way to do it is using models of biological effects, something that acts as an indicatorof a product’s efficacy. This can cut the time down to weeks, and causes a much smaller hole inthe wallet.
Which is exactly what Wellington company TrinityBioactives carries out for its mostly Australasian, but also global clients. It usesscientifically proven and established methods to indicate on the label, as a proxy, that a producthas been shown to have biologically active ingredients.
Trinity’s Managing Director and Director of Research and Operations Paul Davis, a biomedicalresearcher by training, is a large part of the brains behind the 160-170 tests, or assays, that theGracefield-based seven person team is able to apply for (would-be) makers of nutraceuticals,functional foods and products sold over the counter at the likes of chemists, supermarkets andhealth food stores.
Trinity’s genesis came about in 1994 when the Biological Investigation Group (BIG) was set upas a research and business unit under the auspices of the Otago University’s Wellington MedicalSchool. It was triggered by Davis going into a Johnsonville Mall health food shop and observing ninedifferent brands of shark cartilage being on sale.
“I wrote down what the product said it was and its price,” he says. “Then I went home andcalculated the price on a cost per kilogram basis. The price varied from $450 a kilo to $3,300 akilo. The labels all listed what was in the cartilage, the fat, protein, mineral and so on, butnothing told me about the effectiveness of the product. Was the $3,300 product eight times moreeffective than the $450 one? There was no way of knowing. They could’ve all been dead for thatmatter, and had no active ingredient.”
This failing from a biological effectiveness point of view helped bring BIG into existence, alongwith valuable assistance from George Slim and Richard Furneaux; from Industrial Research Ltd.
Over the next 14 years, Davis and BIG developed different assays to measure a diverse range ofbiological potencies and efficacies. Many of these assays are cell cultures – perhaps of stomachcells or cancer. There are other tests that measure the diabetic response. Others measure a skinresponse. There are also many, many other tests.
One common feature of all the assays is the method has been proven and written up in reputableinternational scientific and medical journals. Somebody, somewhere, has demonstrated that using aparticular method demonstrates a particular measurable, response.
Trinity uses these publicly-available methods, to prove the activity or otherwise of thebiological products it is asked to investigate. These range from emu oils to green lipped musselextracts, bee propolis to dairy extracts. .
The University sold BIG, which was renamed Trinity Bioactives, to Davis and a group of investorsin 2008, and though the laboratory moved from its Wellington site to Gracefield in 2010, Trinitycontinues to use the Medical School’s animal testing facility at times.
“It doesn’t matter to us what sort of test material you want to look at,” says Davis.“For example, if the client wishes to investigate the effect on inflammation, there’s so manydifferent types. But we can test the multiple cell types and biochemical pathways that couod ebinvolved. What we do, is discuss with the client what they want to investigate, and then design astudy to address those questions.”
The results, obviously mostly when the product demonstrates a favourable outcome for say itsappropriate properties, are able to be published often as part of the fine print often seen on theback of a package.
Manufacturers can’t publish something without our approval.” Davis says. “In fact, neitherparty can publish without the other’s prior approval. This to protect them and us”
This provides an evidence-based approach, that an independent agency has provided a report. Allthese assays and models are in the public domain and literature, “so the methodology isrecognised,” he says. “When we discuss the investigation of a product with a client, we can alsogive a copy of the methodology in the paper that has been publicly published.”
No other Australasian company provides such a comprehensive service, and “it provides, forcompanies looking for a market advantage, evidence that a product does have an effect.”
Along the way, Trinity has also established some important collaborations. It doesn’t conductmany trials of pharmaceutical products, “We simply wouldn’t have enough inquiries,” Davissays. The safety/toxicity aspects using experimental animals would cost at least three to four timesour current rates
For that sort of work, Trininty refers the project onto a Melbourne partner, who in turn directsnatural product, nutraceutical and functional food tests its way. “At the moment, Australianinquiry has been quite active, and we’ve obtained a fair bit of work from our partners across theTasman.”
Over the years, Davis has had to apply an increasing quantum of knowledge on methods, proceduresand applications for testing biological activity. In being aware of different methods, and new onesthat are being published all the time, it means that often Davis is a problem solver needing to workout a particular way that different biological effects can be demonstrated.
“We often need to develop a test that’s relevant for the product that a client isproducing,” he says.
An increasing amount of business, and one that is good from a steady income point of view, istesting on a batch basis, levels of biological efficacy in natural products . This means abioactivity certification or indicator of quality can be provided with every delivery that amanufacturer may make to its own client which in turn is making up a formulated product. .
In all cases, it involves sitting down with a client, and negotiating what Trinity is going to doto try to address the question that the client wants answered..
“We get an agreement before we start, and we both know what is going to happen through theproduction of a Study Plan,” says Davis. “From that we can produce a formal report on apersonalised basis at the completion of the study.”
In designing a study, Trinity is able to supply an estimate of what it will cost to measurebiological activity, along with toxicity and safety measures.
“Davis says. “Often we’re doing blind tests, we don’t even know what we’re screening.This helps to remove the chances of bias in determining the results. .”
Davis says there are big opportunities for New Zealand companies to sell biological products,where the level of activity is provided as part of the whole package. This will establish that theproducts are biologically active.
The combining of different products, which often will show a synergistic effect is anotheropportunity, for which Trinity is able to provide methods that show the beneficial enhancedactivity.
One of these was a green lipped mussel extract, for which a company tried different combinationsof additives/combinations. As a result, one showed increased effectiveness, and this is now beingmarketed and sold as a superior product
“There are untold possibilities out there for New Zealand,” he says, with a number of sourcesof government funding being available to ease the cost of testing biological effectiveness.
“And the great thing is, when I come in in the morning, I don’t know who is going to knock onthe door,” Davis says.
“And our job’s about solving problems. There’s a real intellectual buzz to being able to dothat.”
Davis says there’s also a range of opportunities for innovative and brave New Zealand companieslooking to add value to the country’s biological resource.
Being in a position of an ‘honest broker’ he receives inquiries from both the market/consumerend, and the producer.
“If we open our eyes and ears, there are many people who are after the high quality productsthat this country can offer,” he says.
“As long as proof is provided that something does what it says it does, then the rest of theproduct’s story can largely write itself.”