Nektium debuts advanced delivery tech for smarter botanical formulations

Nektium has launched a suite of proprietary manufacturing technologies to deliver its premium botanical extracts with superior efficacy, stability, and versatility.

Smartek by Nektium is a group of innovative delivery technologies designed to provide manufacturers with high-quality, science-backed ingredients that offer maximum value and ease of use in a wide range of formulations.

Developed in-house by Nektium’s research teams, it shields and stabilizes key bioactive compounds in botanicals to ensure their efficacy is maintained throughout the manufacturing process and into the final product.

Smartek utilizes proprietary combinations of cutting-edge delivery technologies including multi-stage microencapsulation, molecular and matrix inclusion systems, and controlled ionization. The combinations are selected for each botanical ingredient to deliver optimal efficacy, enhanced physicochemical properties, and more neutral sensory characteristics.

As well as maximizing health benefits at the lowest possible dose, it increases shelf life and provides much more versatility in formulation, supporting innovation in formats such as gummies and beverages.

Nektium chief executive officer Miguel Jimenez said, “Smartek by Nektium brings the best out of botanicals and helps manufacturers innovate smarter and faster. We’re using innovative combinations of smart technologies to offer potent functional benefits in convenient low doses that fit seamlessly into on-trend delivery formats.”

Smartek has already been used to develop a number of products in Nektium’s botanical extracts portfolio. These include:

• Vanizem: A fast-acting mood- and sleep-enhancing extract of Aframomum melegueta (Grains of Paradise), which is extracted and processed using a patented, complex coacervation technology. This optimizes delivery at a low dose (100-150mg) by stabilizing the key bioactive vanilloid components.

• Zynamite S: A fully water-soluble, neutral-taste, low-dose formulation of Nektium’s award-winning Zynamite nootropic for cognitive performance and non-stim mental energy, which taps into the growing demand for functional beverages.

Additional product launches using Smartek are already in development. These include the use of a unique double microencapsulation approach for enhanced delivery, neutral sensory properties, and excellent dispersibility for botanical extracts in powder formats including sachets and shakes.

Miguel Jimenez added, “We’re renowned for providing premium botanicals that address key needs such as cognition, sleep, stress, and physical performance. With Smartek by Nektium, we’re opening up exciting new possibilities in finished product innovation and taking efficacy and stability to new heights.”

The launch of Smartek comes as quality control within the botanical supplements sector faces increasing scrutiny. Estimates from systematic reviews suggest that approximately 25% of analyzed bulk ingredients and finished products may be adulterated, while climate change is also affecting the quality of raw materials.^[1]

Nektium’s raw ingredients are fully traceable and sustainably sourced, and the company’s botanical extracts are manufactured in compliance with regulatory requirements using food-grade, validated processing steps at the company’s state-of-the-art facility in Spain. The in-house laboratory undertakes rigorous plant identity and batch control procedures, including DNA barcode analysis and UHPLC profiles.

Together with Smartek delivery technologies, this approach ensures Nektium’s botanicals have the correct phytochemical profiles, identity, active compound content, and organoleptic properties.

Beatriz Ercilla Negrin, director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory at Nektium, said, “Smartek by Nektium is a testament to our philosophy of combining science-based innovation with a foundation of in-house manufacturing and quality control. Our commitment to quality is embedded in every step of our vertically integrated supply chain, from sourcing to finished product. By controlling the entire process and leveraging advanced technologies, we provide customers with botanical ingredients that deliver on the promise of quality, traceability, health benefits, and efficacy.”