DFE Pharma launches Nutroféli starch portfolio, eying nutraceutical opportunities

27 Jan 2022 --- DFE Pharma is expanding its nutraceutical portfolio with the launch of three starch-based excipients. The products aim to tap into formulation needs across industry, which has seen heightened attention from consumers since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company says.

“As a global leader in premium-quality ingredient solutions, we support our customers with their formulations to develop and deliver user-friendly dosage designs that appeal to consumers,” says Bas van Driel, CEO of DFE Pharma.

The items are Nutroféli ST100, a native starch; Nutroféli ST200, a partially pregelatinized starch; and Nutroféli ST300, a fully gelatinized starch.

Multifunctional opportunities
The new portfolio can meet applications for nutraceutical companies such as binders. The three items are naturally sourced, multifunctional excipients that can be used for oral solid dosage forms and conform to both food and pharma monographs, the company notes.

Native starches are widely used as disintegrants, fillers and binders in nutraceutical oral solid dose forms manufacturing using wet granulation processes. The Nutroféli ST100 is a native maize starch that can be used as a simple ingredient for disintegration purposes, DFE Pharma notes.

The Nutroféli ST200 is a partly pregelatinized maize starch primed for disintegration and binding. It integrates multiple functionality benefits of a binder, disintegrant and flow-aid in both direct compression and wet granulation process, the company says, touting its high efficiency. 

According to DFE Pharma, Nutroféli ST300 is a fully gelatinized maize starch that helps reduce process complexities and production costs in the development of nutraceutical formulation involving wet granulation. It helps eliminate the extra step of creating a starch paste, as it can be added directly to the granulation liquid or the dry blend.

Starches are widely used for formulation purposes.Growing demand for starch
Product launches with starch have seen a substantial rise in the F&B space, to the tune of 6% CAGR globally between 2016 and 2021, according to Innova Market Insights, which reports bakery subcategories have the highest penetration for starch ingredients.

“Nutraceutical products are increasingly gaining attention during the past few years – even more since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, as consumers are becoming more and more aware about well-being, self-care and disease prevention,” DFE Pharma highlights.

The comments reflect a growing observation across industry where consumers are taking health more into their own hands, doing their own research on the products they want to consume. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in demand for products linked to immunity, as well as stress-relieving items, to deal with the stress of lockdowns. 

By Andria Kades