Niagen Bioscience is the new name for ChromaDex, a company which had its beginnings as a standards testing service with a focus on chromatography. It built brand recognition in that area and later as an analytical testing service, but the name no longer reflects the business that it is today, said company CEO Rob Fried.
ChromaDex will now appear as ‘NAGE’ at stock market open on Wednesday.
“We think today there’s only one strong, trustworthy brand in the NAD [nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide] space, and that brand is Niagen,” Fried said about the company’s primary ingredient. “And we want to help journalists and influencers and consumers to be able to discern the good brands from the not so good brands, the trusted brands from the not trustworthy brands.”
In recent years, the company has branched into other areas of “significant opportunities” in not only the dietary supplement industry but in the pharmaceutical space, Fried said. He added that as Niagen Bioscience, the company is better positioned to expand in those markets, building strategy around supplement Tru Niagen, its flagship product, as well as NAD precursors.
Sales for Tru Niagen grew to $76.8 million in 2024, and $17.5 million of Niagen ingredient sales last year were from food nutrition and supplement companies, according to ChromaDex investor relations.
A ‘miraculous’ molecule
The company’s success is linked to NAD, which exists in two forms: NAD+ and NADH.
ChromaDex sells products containing the ingredient Niagen (nicotinamide riboside), which has been shown to increase levels of NAD+ in the body. NAD+ is a coenzyme for redox reactions, which involves the transfer of electrons between two species. The process is critical to energy metabolism. NAD+ is naturally found in trace amounts in milk and other foods.
According to the National Institutes of Health, NAD+ can influence key cellular functions, such as metabolic pathways, DNA repair, cellular senescence and immune cell function—processes critical for healthy aging. There is a gradual decline in NAD+ levels in tissues and cells which is linked to age-related conditions.
Andrew Shao, PhD, senior vice president of global regulatory and scientific affairs at ChromaDex, said Niagen is backed by dozens of clinical studies, many of which are third-party funded. The company partners with the Mayo Clinic, National Institute on Aging, and Harvard and Cambridge Universities to study Niagen.
ChromaDex cannot patent nicotinamide riboside because it is found in nature. However, the company does have exclusive use of a patented crystal form of NR used in commercial dosages, Shao said.
ChromaDex maintains a robust patent portfolio of over 60 owned and licensed patents that cover various salts of NR (including NR Chloride, Malate and Tartrate), as well as methods of making NR, methods of use and crystal forms, along with patents on other novel NAD+ precursors.
Precursors are compounds that participate in a chemical reaction that produces another compound.
The company also has intellectual property around nicotinic acid, a nutrient in the vitamin B complex that the body needs in small dosages to function and stay healthy.
More than supplements
Through ChromaDex’s external research program, CERP, independent and third-party investigators request Niagen for their clinical and preclinical NAD+ research. Through this program, investigators have published three clinical studies on Parkinson’s, with a fourth Phase III study that is currently ongoing. This Phase III study involves 400 patients, in which half of them receive one gram of Niagen per day and the other half a placebo for one year.
The company said that the therapeutic potential of Niagen, at least from a pharmaceutical standpoint, exists in addressing neurodegenerative diseases, and it is where ChromaDex sees the greatest promise. Independent investigators have been studying Parkinson’s and Niagen since 2018.
“Energy-demanding tissues like the brain and the heart, the skeletal muscle, they’re all heavily NAD dependent,” Shao said.
The company also unveiled Niagen Plus, featuring the first of its kind pharmaceutical grade IV Niagen last year. It is available exclusively at clinics across the U.S. with a prescription.
Niagen Plus targets an intravenous hydration therapy market valued at $2.32 billion globally and $1.15 billion in North America, according to the company.
“It’s only now that we’ve gotten to a point that we’re having essentially this coming out party where we say, ‘We think we’ve arrived’,” Fried said. “This moment marks a new era for NAD+ research and for Niagen Bioscience. We are ready to lead the way.”