Aker BioMarine has received its first patent allowance for its PL+ DHA/EPA delivery technology platform, which is an important milestone for the company’s innovation pipeline.
PL+ technology from Aker BioMarine, which launched in late 2022, uses natural marine phospholipids (PL’s) to maximise the uptake of other ingredients.
It enables dual solubility in water and in fats and acts as an emulsifier and a booster of absorption to enhance uptake of supplements up to 25x.
Krill and fish phospholipids for better health
This new patent application protects the PL+ EPA/DHA formulation, which is based on a mixture of krill phospholipids and EPA and DHA from processed fish oil (processed into ethyl esters).
It demonstrates that the combination of krill phospholipids and added ethyl esters (or triglycerides) results in enhanced emulsions, which are believed to be essential to improve the uptake of EPA and DHA in the stomach.
The patent claims and protects lipid formulations for use in therapy to enhance absorption of fish oil derivatives having the following key features:
- 17-75 % weight by weight of total phospholipids, meaning from 17 g to 75 g of phospholipids per 100 g of the composition
- 16-50 % weight by weight of DHA and/or EPA in the form of ethyl esters where the formulation forms emulsion with preferable droplet size in the stomach
“In today’s market, we know that consumers are looking for personalisation and combination products to help target key health benefit areas. And during a time when our industry is experiencing fish oil supply and demand challenges, with PL+ we can reduce fish oil integration in a formula while increasing bioavailability, enhancing consumer experience, and enabling new innovations in the category.” says Simon Seward, CEO, Human Health Ingredients.
