Aker BioMarine, an ingredient supplier specialized in krill-derived omega-3 and protein ingredients, launched its first algae-derived ingredient at Vitafoods Europe. FloraMarine, a new plant-based, marine source of omega-3, contains the highest naturally-occurring concentration of DHA on the market today, the company reports.
 
The company was compelled to get in on the ground floor as many key players in the omega-3s industry also introduce their own algae-derived ingredients, and to help build out the nascent category similarly to how it did with krill oil, noted Simon Seward, CEO. Additionally, the company already has the capacity to achieve price parity with fish oil quickly, thanks to its Houston refining facility, internal regulatory and R&D organizations, and global sales and marketing teams. “We believe we can do this much more cheaply than anyone else and hopefully make algae more competitive in the marketplace as a result,” he said.
 
A critical point has been reached, in which the available supply of fish oil to the dietary supplements market has flatlined. “The aquaculture industry is the biggest consumer of omega-3s and they’ve been growing four-to-five percent every year. They’ve optimized feed to use less omega-3s in the past few years, but can’t reduce it any further. The gap is going to get bigger and bigger every year – fish prices will go up, algae prices will head down, and there will eventually be a price parity, so we want to be in a good position for that.”
 
FloraMarine contains the highest naturally-occurring concentration of DHA in ingredients on the market, said Katina Handeland, PhD, director of research and development for human nutrition at Aker BioMarine.
 
“FloraMarine is a natural triglyceride, and isn’t processed in any way. We can fit 250 milligrams of DHA into one very small capsule. Fish oils typically have a concentration of between 20 and 40 percent, and must be processed to reach a higher concentration into what we call re-eserified triglycerides … FloraMarine requires no processing or up-concentration. It’s naturally at that level, so there’s no need for enzymatic processes, distillation, bleaching, or refining the product to deal with impurities,” Handeland said.
 
“We limit the water and land use, and there’s zero impact on marine resources. This is also a single-origin ingredient with full traceability and transparency,” Handeland continued.
 
PL+ Delivery Technology
 
The experts at Aker BioMarine also showcased PL+, a delivery technology based on krill phospholipids which the company developed in 2022 in order to emulsify low-solubility and low-permeability ingredients like curcumin, CoQ10, lutein, CBD, and many more.
 
Since phospholipids are both water- and fat-soluble, they can serve as a way of giving ingredients dual solubility in water and fat, while also acting as an emulsifier and booster of absorption to enhance uptake of supplements by up to 25 times.  
 
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently issued an allowance for a patent for PL+, which was an important milestone for the company’s innovation pipeline, ensuring to Aker’s customers that their products which use PL+ are exclusive and backed by scientific evidence.
 
The new patent application protects the PL+ EPA/DHA formulation, which is based on krill phospholipids, EPA, and DHA from processed fish oil, which is processed into ethyl esters. The patent demonstrates that the combination of krill phospholipids and added ethyl esters (or triglyerides) results in enhanced emulsions, which are believed to be essential to improve the uptake of EPA and DHA in the stomach.
 
The patent claims and protects lipid formulations for use in therapy to enhance absorption of fish oil derivatives having the following key features:

• 17-75% weight by weight of total phospholipids, i.e. from 17 to 75 grams of phospholipids per 100 grams of composition;
• 16-50% weight by weight of DHA and/or EPA in the form of ethyl esters;
• Where the formulation forms emulsion with preferable droplet size in the stomach.

“This patent reaffirms the advances that Aker BioMarine is making in the industry when it comes to innovation by truly tapping into the full potential of krill oil phospholipids,” says Simon Seward, CEO, Human Health Ingredients. “In today’s market, we know that consumers are looking for personalization and combination products to help target key health benefit areas. And during a time when our industry is experiencing fish oil supply and demand challenges, with PL+ we can reduce fish oil integration in a formula while increasing bioavailability, enhancing consumer experience, and enabling new innovations in the category.”
 
“At Aker BioMarine, innovation is always high, and science is a priority,” said Kristin Holmgren, intellectual property manager. “In fact, we recently conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial and confirmed that krill oil is a more bioavailable source of omega-3s compared to regular fish oil. The positivity of this study, combined with the approval from the USPTO, provides assurance that our PL+ technology brings valuable innovations in today’s omega-3 climate and beyond. We also have the opportunity to expand this patent application into a patent family of more PL+ products in the future.”