NZ innovation revolutionises natural healthcare worldwide

Media Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL

14 December 2011

New Zealand innovation revolutionises natural healthcare worldwide

Global leaders in the production of therapeutic grade manuka honey, Manuka Health, have revealed the next step in their evolution towards becoming a worldwide force in the natural healthcare industry.

CycloPower™ is a bioactive booster that supercharges everything it touches, meaning the active properties of whatever it is combined with can be multiplied by one thousand per cent.

Made from cyclodextrins - a beneficial plant derivative - CycloPower™ will enable the products that contain it to achieve results never seen before. For example, genuine MGO™ Manuka Honey is renowned for its ability to inhibit the growth of bacteria. When formulated with CycloPower™ it will kill some of the most virulent bacteria the world has ever seen.

Historically, natural health supplements have had limitations in their use, due to being unstable, difficult to dissolve or even tasting horrible. CycloPower™ overcomes these problems by protecting the bioactive molecules on their journey, gradually releasing them in a soluble form where they can be most useful. Put simply, it allows the maximum benefits to be experienced over a much longer timeframe.

CycloPower™ will also enable natural health products to be administered using delivery systems that were previously ineffective. Eye drops and nasal sprays will be just two of the ways through which formulations can now be dispensed to target specific conditions. The unique encapsulation properties of cyclodextrins will also enable the treatment of lower intestinal disorders that have not been able to be remedied until now as the body destroys the products before it can reach its destination. The protected delivery system of CycloPower™ also means that the lowest dose for a result can be given, as all of the active ingredient is made available to the body.

The potential for not only healthcare, but the New Zealand economy is enormous, with CycloPower™ enhanced products expected to quickly become a major multi-million dollar export industry.

CEO Kerry Paul, who has taken Manuka Health from its first pot of honey to a multi-million dollar global firm in less than five years, is clear about the economic benefits to be gained from applying innovation and commercial savvy to New Zealand bioactive products.

“This was the plan from day one. We never wanted to be just another honey company. We knew that if we took a scientific approach to maximising the unique compounds that the New Zealand flora and fauna has given us, we could take them from being functional foods to bioactive medical products. We knew we could heal people.”

“Manuka Health is now poised to position New Zealand at the forefront of not only biotech innovation, but we’re showing the world how to successfully commercialise those discoveries.”

The discovery behind CycloPower™ was made by a team of Japanese researchers led by Professor Keiji Terao of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and the Medical Faculty of Kobe University. The scientists found that cyclodextrins could act as a bio-active booster.

Since that time Manuka Health has been working closely with Professor Terao to bring the benefits of cyclodextrin-boosted natural bioactives to the world.

Cyclodextrins, which have been around since the 1930s, have been studied thoroughly and have an impressive safety profile, so will be of great interest to consumers who favour natural products, but have conditions that require an increased level of efficacy.

The first CycloPower™ products to be released will be formulated from MGO™ Manuka Honey, which is already foremost in the world for its antibacterial properties. However, when enhanced with CycloPower™ the results against bacterial growth are staggering.

Streptococcus Pyogenes – which causes everything from Strep Throat and Scarlet Fever to the deadly and terrifying Necrotising Fasciitis – and Heliobacter Pylori – responsible for the development of duodenal ulcers and stomach cancers – are completely wiped out after exposure to MGO™ Manuka Honey with CycloPower™, with little or no bacterial regrowth after 24 hours. (1)

Worldwide, bacteria takes a terrible toll on human life, and this is a phenomenal advancement in what people will be able to treat, easily and inexpensively, with no drug intervention. Even the formidable and feared MRSA, which costs health boards in New Zealand and around the world millions each year in hospital acquired infections, is shown to be retarded by CycloPower™ enhanced MGO™ Manuka Honey.

The first Manuka Honey with CycloPower™ products will be released early in 2012, with an oral health, and a digestive health formula planned. These will soon be followed by formulations based on propolis.

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