Reddit AMA | In-House Lab Edition

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

That's a tough one. I am going to break it up into three. One of them is something we have been working on for years, but is not out yet. The other is one that is out, but took us a lot of time, effort, and testing to ge

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

The second one I would say has been difficult is adrafinil. This is one we have been selling since 2013. However, it's a very complex one for a number of reasons. Going all the way back to the Ceretropic days, some batch

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Yep, the polarimeter is what we use for optical rotation analysis. It is very similar to running the IR. There is more validation work, though. With IR you can have libraries with spectra of the things you are looking fo

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

It's my pleasure!

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Okay, now product number 3 that we have put a lot of work into, but has not yet been release... That one is a liquid culture extract of lion's mane mycelium standardized to erinacine-A. This is one that we have been work

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

A new Natrium stack is about to be released. We have a backlog of tablet products that will be coming out for products we have already released in powder form. We have more flavones on the way. We are working on some coo

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Yes, my ultimate goal was to advance the quality control and scientific standards of the entire industry. This is why we got our lab ISO certified and spun it out into its own entity. Providing lab services to other play

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Both DHEA and pregnenolone are possibilities.

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

We are working on a bunch of flavones. Naringenin is one of them.

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Generally yes, our in-house bacopa will be a bit sedating. We use it in our Sleep Support product, actually. We are working on a completely new bacopa that we are patenting that is not sedating at all, though. So you mig

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

The first big piece of lab equipment I bought was our Thermo Scientific IS50 FTIR/ATR. The reason we did that first is that it is a really useful tool for the ID of most products. It has low running costs. It is easy to

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

> How and why do you check your products to such a high standards? Because I think that is what the industry standard should be. We are putting these things into our bodies. We should care about the scientific validity

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Yes, ashwagandha is one of our most comprehensively tested natural products, due to our work with the team behind Shoden. We worked together to really advance ashwagandha testing methods. I talked about it in this thread

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Not everyone makes all the machines or makes the same quality machines. Waters is absolutely #1 for liquid chromatography. They are the Ferrari of UPLC, since they developed the technology. They also focused on pharma mo

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

We are always hiring for positions all over the company. This includes everything from warehouse employees and production techs to scientists and engineers.

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Agreed. Money is king in most industries. It's tough to fight against the status quo. It can be discouraging at times, because I know how much we put into everything being done right. However, then we see companies we kn

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Our bank won't allow it. We are only allowed to sell in tablets right now. It's a risk thing, I guess. Maybe we can talk them into it after we have enough time selling the tablets.

Comment · Wed, October 20, 2021 · 1 pts

Yes, but at always seems to be the case, it is taking longer than one would have hoped. Right now the supply chain is so fucked, it's hard enough just keep things in stock and keeping prices reasonable. We just had anoth

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

I can speak for both of us when I say that we both like Dynamine/methylliberine. It impressed us so much that we made DynaMAX because of it. It's very interesting how different it is than caffeine. The only limitation is

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

There are no validated testing methods at the moment. We've gone over this a ton with all the labs around the world, including SGS US and SGS China. The numbers people are putting are not valid in our eyes. We have seen

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

I have not in a while. I need to do another telomere test. I'll get a baseline, then decide on what I am going to do after that. I had hoped I would be less stressed as time went on, but the past 2 years have been some o

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

Yes, it has been in the works for a while.

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

We have farms that we work with that grow all our mushrooms. Not one farm is good at all mushrooms, so we have different farms for the various ones. The farm that grows the best cordyceps is not the one that makes the be

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

> 2nd question if you have time: With all the recent supply chain woes and just general need for high QX, will it ever be possible for ND to do it's own in house synthesis for some products? We actually already are. It'

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

The Natrium one is likely 5 weeks off or so. Those labels are printed for us by a 3rd party company, and they have a 4 week lead time at the moment.

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

> 3) Has there ever been anger between you and other labs when your findings don't match, maybe if another lab didn't use enough methods to discover issues with a batch or something like that? There is a lot I want to s

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

>on topic: what is your dream lab spec / equipment - say you truly had money no object? And why those machines / processes and what would you use them for? I would probably agree with my lab director. I guess that make

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

Yes on both. We have been unable to make astaxanthin for a reasonable price yet. I'd like to bring it out, but costs are making that not feasible. Fadogia agrestis is not one I am sold on yet. I think there are toxicit

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

We work with Alkemist all the time, and we asked them for years to test triterpenes in reishi, but they said they couldn't yet. However, it appears as though they just started offering it to Oriveda. I looked at the chro

Comment · Thu, October 21, 2021 · 1 pts

I do miss the fun carefree days of Ceretropic. There was a naive optimism back then. It was before the reality of the world smacked me in the face and forced me to temper my expectations a bit. Don't get me wrong, we do

Comment · Fri, October 22, 2021 · 1 pts

ICP-MS, which is inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The detection limits of the machine and methods we use are: Arsenic: 0.2000 ppm Cadmium: 0.0800 ppm Mercury: 0.0200 ppm Lead: 0.0800 ppm

Comment · Fri, October 22, 2021 · 1 pts

Yes. We already have. We are just not ready for retail yet. I've personally taken our extract, though. Like nothing else I have ever taken. It's going to be a really big hit when we bring it out... if everyone reacts the

Comment · Fri, October 22, 2021 · 1 pts

Yes, due to customs issues. They claimed FDA holds, but we never received official documents from the FDA. We emailed at least 10 times, and called and left messages. They ghosted us. They seized thousands of kilos from

Comment · Fri, October 22, 2021 · 1 pts

Are you thinking of robbing us? LOL

Comment · Fri, October 22, 2021 · 1 pts

A B complex is in the works. We are still formulating and deciding on forms, though. The final formulation is not 100% settled yet. We also do have some longevity things in the works, along with a possible Natrium stack

Comment · Fri, October 22, 2021 · 1 pts

We basically force-feed a couple interns, lock them in a room, then videotape them. It's not perfect, but is really fun! LOL, no. We have a formal beta test process for it. Anyone that works for us can participate. We h

Comment · Fri, October 22, 2021 · 1 pts

We do have a lot of people that are passionate about nootropics and supplements, but not everyone is. Everyone in the lab is passionate about chemistry, though. That's a must when working in the lab. They like using scie

Comment · Fri, October 22, 2021 · 1 pts

The only way to hold companies accountable would be a completely separate industry association. That association would have to not be funded by the labs or brands. It would have to exist solely to be a watchdog, and it w

Comment · Fri, October 22, 2021 · 1 pts

If I focused on the frustration, I would never get anything done. It does suck, but I have to let go of the things I can't change in the current moment, and focus on the ones I can. That's all any of us can do. I really