Kyowa launches new magazine, defends Cognizin brand
“It’s for anyone we work with. Our customers who make our finished products, sales prospects and others,” Karen Todd, RD, senior director of global marketing at Kyowa Hakko USA told NutraIngredients-USA. The magazine, which will share industry news, company news and best practices, is intended as both an internal and external communications vehicle.
Todd said the magazine’s format and content acknowledges Kyowa Hakko’s global footprint. The industry is become more integrated around the world, and the company needed a way to tie that together, she said.
“There is a lot going on with the industry and within Kyowa,” she said. “We wanted to have a way to link everyone together in a global framework.”
Todd said the first issue of AminoScope includes product updates including the latest published research on the combination of Kyowa's L-citrulline and Setria® Glutathione that shows great potential in the sports nutrition market. It also covers Kyowa's first-ever meeting focused exclusively on glutathione science that was held in Tokyo, Japan. Other topics covered include global regulatory updates on Kyowa products, as well as past and future trade show news.
Future issues of AminoScope will focus on activities and events from Kyowa's Japan office as well as news from their regional offices in North & South America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Every issue of AminoScope will include important news relating to product development, research, manufacturing developments and employee updates.
The magazine’s title is based on Kyowa Hakko’s long history in amino acid manufacture, Todd said.
“Kyowa was the first company to make commercial quantities of amino acids via fermentation in 1949,” she said.
“We then moved into dipeptides and tripeptides using fermentation. Cognizin (the company’s patented form of citicoline) is not an amino acid but could make it with fermentation so that’s the link there,” Todd said.
NAD case
Todd said in addition to ramping up its internal and external communication efforts, Kyowa continues to defend its IP. In her view, this not only benefits the company, but the category at large. Rather than initiate a trademark suit, the company chose to refer a case the National Advertising Division concerning a product called “Cognitine.” Legacy Labs, the maker, agreed to cease making the disputed claims, and represented that it has since gone out of business.
Among the claims Legacy Labs was making were:
- “You will have incredible focus and mental health in a matter of days and stabilize your mood as well.”
- “Cogntine is a complete brain support formula designed to support cognition through every stage of life.”
- “Cognitine works by giving you the optimal dosage of purest ingredients need to boost your brain’s ability to heal itself and restore cognitive function.”
“We have got to be very careful of what kind of claims are being made for nootropics,” Todd said. The category became a focus last of year of Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, who said she was concerned about marketers taking advantage of seniors, whom she viewed as an at-risk population.
“I think everyone is focusing on brain health right now. The good guys are approaching it conservatively with a lot of thought. We try to make our claims simple so that they will more easily translate across markets. The other guys are just trying to make a fast buck. They confuse consumers and I with they would go away,” she said.
