Natural Health Products NZ member and Gold Partner, IMCD, is well known for its specialist herbal extract division, Network Nutrition, yet it provides so much more.
As a global leader in the sales, marketing and distribution of specialty chemicals and food ingredients, the company also distributes ingredients used in infant nutrition, excipients, vegetable-based capsules, probiotics, nutritional oils, etc.
IMCD’s unique offering involves using its own laboratories to deliver customers’ natural health product concepts and troubleshoot their problems by way of a combination of active and excipient ingredients.
The company has pharmaceutical technical centres worldwide, including three Asia-Pacific laboratories for its Australasian customers, in Mumbai (topicals), Shanghai (solid dosage form) and Jakarta (nutraceuticals). It also has a New Zealand market manager supported by customer service representatives dedicated to this market.
The end results are innovative, scientifically formulated product concepts in different dosage forms that meet local regulatory requirements.
Cameron Richardson, IMCD ANZ Pharma & Nutraceuticals Divisions General Manager, says the company works hard to add value to its customers and the sectors in which they operate.
“Our global network of internal expertise enables IMCD to conduct and publish research that is of great benefit to the natural health products and nutrition sectors. For example, IMCD/Network Nutrition has published several articles assisting the industry to detect herbal extract adulteration.”
In Europe IMCD/Network Nutrition analysed 15 off-the-shelf Ginkgo biloba products, finding that only one of those products was genuine, unadulterated Ginkgo. The other products comprised poor quality Ginkgo extracts spiked with other ingredients. Such information helps to inform the natural products industry about methods that will assist to detect botanical adulteration.
“As a leading ingredient supplier we, like our customers, want to do everything we can to detect and draw attention to ingredient adulteration. Such practises are harmful to individual businesses, the sector as a whole and – most importantly – to the consumers who buy and use such products,” says Cameron.
This is but one example of how IMCD can help improve product quality for individual businesses, and for the natural health products sector as a whole.
Warren Strickett, IMCD’s New Zealand General Manager, says his team can partner with customers at any stage of the product lifecycle, including at the early stage of product development.
“IMCD has an innovative portfolio of active nutraceutical ingredients based on science and specialty functional excipients. These synergistic product lines combined with our formulation expertise, means that IMCD can add value from farm to dosage form to deliver innovation for our customers.”
“New Zealand is well-regarded for its high-quality, innovative natural health products and it is great to be playing our own part in enhancing that global reputation.”
