Precision botanicals: Novella Innovative Technology to commercialize sustainable ingredients
Key takeaways
- Novella has appointed biotech veteran Antonio Martinez Descalzo as CEO to lead its shift from R&D to commercialization of plant-cell-based “precision botanical” ingredients.
- The AuraCell platform grows high-potency botanical compounds, aiming to stabilize supply, reduce resource use, and buffer prices from climate-driven crop volatility.
- Through CDMO partnerships and EU-backed grants, Novella is scaling its first ingredient, Strawberry8, toward a 2027 commercial launch in the US market.
Novella Innovative Technology has appointed a new CEO to elevate its start-up operations from the R&D phase to full-scale commercial operations. Working in the nutraceutical industry, the new role will lead the global commercialization of precision botanical ingredients, aiming to provide price stability from climate fluctuations.
The company specializes in plant-cell-based ingredients, and newly appointed Antonio Martinez Descalzo comes with expertise in scaling health and wellness ingredients.
The company specializes in plant-cell-based ingredients, and newly appointed Antonio Martinez Descalzo comes with expertise in scaling health and wellness ingredients.
“2026 marks a pivotal operational year for Novella,” says Kobi Avidan, chairman and co-founder of Novella. “Having successfully completed pilot production, we are moving into full industrial manufacturing, responding to the global demand for precise, consistent, and high-potency botanical ingredients.”
As the new CEO, Martinez Descalzo brings over two decades of global leadership in life sciences, health, and nutraceutical industries.
“Martinez Descalzo’s combined background as a seasoned nutraceutical expert and global commercial strategist makes him the ideal leader to steer Novella toward becoming a commercial powerhouse.”
Martinez Descalzo was previously VP of Innovation and business development director at ADM and has experience in the probiotics and specialty ingredients sector.
Precision botanicals for price stability
Novella says its AuraCell technology brings a new approach to nutraceutical sourcing. It grows botanical compounds in a closed, controlled environment. This overcomes the need to grow whole plant sources, cutting down resource use.
“We’re introducing the new category of ‘Precision Botanicals’ into the nutraceutical space,” shares Martinez Descalzo. “It’s a sustainable channel that will deliver fully standardized botanical ingredients at consistent volumes in line with regulatory and consumer requirements.”
The company adds that the platform brings pure, high-value, standardized phytonutrients with “guaranteed consistency” and zero waste.
“Novella’s breakthrough technology reinforces the fragile supply chains for botanical extracts, which are seeing a reemergence in demand for their potent antioxidant power and relevance to broad wellness channels,” says Martinez Descalzo. “This will also bring more price stability via protection from global climate fluctuations.”
For instance, Novella spotlights its first creation, Novella Strawberry∞, from last year, which is a whole-cell strawberry ingredient comprising the fruit’s beneficial compounds like antioxidant phenolic acids. Novella Strawberry∞ is now available for industrial validation and sampling
Partnerships and grants to power commercialization
Novella explains that over the past year, commercialization of Novella Strawberry∞ has been accelerating at the Italian facilities of Chemo Biosynthesis, the industrial division of Insud Pharma Group, providing contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services.
This partnership enables Chemo to integrate Novella’s technology into its manufacturing processes. In turn, for Novella, this will enable it to meet the commercial demands of Novella Strawberry∞ at “highest standards of quality, safety, and purity.”
“Beyond the advantages of having a lean production model that does not require capital-intensive facility build-outs, this approach enables the production of natural ingredients at volume with pharmaceutical-grade precision,” says Martinez Descalzo.
Furthermore, Novella projects Strawberry∞ to commercially roll out for 2027 in the North American US$60 billion valued nutraceutical industry — seen as the company’s initial market target. It will add other Novella whole-cell ingredients that are also lined up for release.
In other developments, Novella says that it is strengthening its operational core through partnerships with other CDMOs, such as the Centre for Process Innovation. This institution provides process development, scale-up, and biomanufacturing services. Another CDMO is Extracellular, which focuses on the scale-up and development of cultivated products.
The start-up expects these partnerships will improve upstream and downstream production processes.
Moreover, Novella spotlights its grant approval from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology to enhance its development of downstream processing for plant cell culture, in collaboration with Extracellular.
The company views this recognition as a validation of its cultivation methods as a sustainable innovation in Europe.
“These combined efforts, and the introduction of Martinez Descalzo into the Novella team, will create a robust, multi-layered ecosystem that supports Novella’s goal of disrupting the traditional nutraceutical supply chain. We look forward to advancing from the start-up stage to a full-production company,” Avidan concludes.
