The joint venture will team Toronto-based BlueOcean’s omega-3 oil streams with technology from CMAX Technology Inc. CMAX’s proprietary formulation technology produces slow-release omega-3 tablets from a variety of oils including shrimp, krill, algal and fish oils. These tablets target the rapidly growing omega-3 and astaxanthin dietary supplements markets. The technology originated in the pharmaceutical realm, Vashi told NutraIngredients-USA.
“CMAX has a technology where they can take fat soluble pharmaceutical compounds, convert them into a powder form and them formulate them into a slow-release tablet. They have three or four of these drugs they have developed into slow release forms so that you don’t have to take multiple doses in a day,” he said.
The advantage for omega-3s delivery is convenience, palatability and bioavailability, Vashi said.
“They can make these powders from any oil-like substance,” he said. “There is no fishy taste or odor. The tablets are more bioavailable and easier to consume.”
Two-pronged approach
BlueOcean has been moving forward with its two-pronged omega3s strategy. BlueOcean has a joint venture to extract an omega-3 oil that is rich in both phospholipids and astaxanthin from biomass coming out of a fairly new cold water shrimp fishery in the northwestern Atlantic. For raw material, BlueOcean uses the leftovers of the processing of shrimp for human consumption from three species caught primarily off the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland: Pandalus borealis, Pandalus montagui, and Pandalus jordani. The company recently entered into a licensing deal with krill pioneer and fellow Canadian company Neptune Technologies and Bioressources to clear the way for bringing its astaxanthin-rich oil to market. The patents in question are Neptune’s composition and extraction patents on the production and sale of marine derived oil products containing phospholipids.
In addition to its marine ingredients, BlueOcean (which changed its name in June 2014 from Solutions 4CO2) has also been working on extracting omega-3 oils from algae. The company has an algae production approach that uses off the shelf components, such as commonly-available 250-gallon totes. The technique has been validated with research collaborators in Canada, but potential partners were interested in a third-party validation, so the company teamed with the Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation (AzCATI) for a pilot run of its technology that Vashi said should be complete soon.