Nashai Biotech develops API-grade theaflavin

US company Nashai Biotech​ has developed a new process that preserves and protects theaflavins, compounds found in tea, when they are formulated into powders or liquids. The process brings the development of theaflavins as active pharmaceutical ingredients a step nearer.

"Over the past few years, Nashai has developed processes for extracting theaflavins from tea​," said Michael Vaughn, the company's chief executive. Theaflavins are prone to degradation and loss of activity when formulated and exposed to the environment, but Nashai's technology ensures that they retain their bioavailability over time with a shelf life of two years, he added.

Theaflavins are produced when green tea ferments and changes into black or oolong tea. Nashai has developed standard operating procedures for extracting and testing theaflavins that have been validated and duplicated by independent laboratories in the USA. The company is initially positioning its extract, under the trade name Teaflavin, as a proprietary nutritional supplement which the company claims is "clinically proven to act as a lipid-lowering agent in people suffering from mild hypercholesterolaemia​."

Since 1999, Nashai's scientists have directed their R&D efforts towards the conversion of traditional Chinese tea-based medicines into clinically backed western medicines and health food products. Earlier this year, Nashai was granted approval by China's Ministry of Health to market Teaflavin as a health food."Teaflavin was developed and tested as though it were an API," commented Jim Zhao, chief science officer of Nashai, adding that there has been considerable research into the effects of theaflavins on cardiovascular health, cancer, immune system, metabolism and diabetes.