While we believe that this research helps strengthen our own product offerings, we hope that it will encourage the use of rigorous analytical methods for the measurement and reporting of nutrients with health benefits.

WellGen Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Nancy Rawson will review the role of inflammation in the chemical senses, chronic rhinosinusitis and olfactory conditions

North Brunswick, NJ – June 1, 2010 – WellGen’s own Dr. Nancy Rawson has been invited to present at a prestigious scientific and medical conference to be held this month.  The 23^rd Congress of the European Rhinologic Society (ERS) and the 29^th International Symposium of Infection and Allergy of the Nose (ISIAN) will include Dr. Rawson’s lecture on inflammation. 

The evidence of the important role that inflammation plays in a variety of health conditions continues to grow.  “The interests of the ERS and ISIAN indicate the importance of ongoing research and new interventions for health conditions such as chronic rhinosinusitis and olfactory loss.  Over the past several years significant progress has been made toward understanding the pathobiological consequences and mechanisms of chronic inflammation, yet therapeutic options remain limited.  That is what makes the work we are doing at WellGen so exciting and rewarding.  We have an incredible opportunity to provide medical foods for many chronic diseases that still cause tremendous suffering throughout the world” stated Dr. Rawson.

The conference will commence in Geneva, Switzerland on June 20.

 WellGen is working on an effective medical food product to reduce HbA1c which it believes will have a favorable safety profile

 WellGen, Inc., a biotechnology company developing medical food products from proprietary nutraceuticals, is encouraged by the results of a study published yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine (http://www.annals.org/content/152/6/346.abstract) that reinforce its hypothesis that modulating inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes should drive important clinical benefits.  Researchers from renowned institutions evaluated the impact of salsalate, an anti-inflammatory drug related to aspirin, on glycemic control in patients.  The study confirms that treatment with salsalate lowered HbA1c and improved other markers of glycemic control in patients with diabetes.

 WellGen recently studied its lead product, which is derived from black tea extract, in an animal model of type 2 diabetes.  In this study, the WellGen product reduced HbA1c on average by almost one percentage point.  “The confluence of the scientific community’s acknowledgement of the important role played by inflammation in diabetes and safety concerns related to currently marketed drugs presents a significant opportunity for WellGen,” stated Roddy Carter, M.D., President and CEO of WellGen, Inc.  “We will conduct gold standard clinical studies with our medical food and plan to introduce a safe product to help patients with diabetes reduce HbA1c and modulate the inflammation that is responsible for many complications and comorbidities of the disease.”

 WellGen plans to launch a medical food product for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in late 2012.

North Brunswick, NJ – March 2, 2010 – (Business Wire) A study published this week has demonstrated improved rates of recovery, reduction in oxidative stress, and reduced muscle soreness following high intensity, anaerobic exercise in athletes consuming a proprietary theaflavin-enriched black tea extract developed by WellGen, Inc. These effects are important to individuals and athletes alike because they may facilitate increased frequency of exercise and subsequently enhance long-term health and performance.

The results of the study, published this week in the peer-reviewed Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition are available online http://www.jissn.com/content/7/1/11. Dr. Shawn M. Arent, of Rutgers University Human Performance Laboratory conceived, designed and conducted the study. “In the intensely competitive environment of contemporary sport and exercise where fractions of a second determine a winning performance, the ability to increase training frequency and quality is crucial,” stated Arent about the relevance of the study results.

WellGen’s scientific program discovers and develops natural products with anti-inflammatory benefits. “This study is important for two reasons,” remarked Roddy Carter, M.D., WellGen’s president and chief executive officer. “This is good news for athletes and people who exercise for health, because while inflammation is needed to clear the debris from muscles to facilitate muscle regeneration, prolonged inflammation can hinder good health and recovery. More important, is that inflammation continues to be at the root of a large number of major diseases, such as diabetes, which still challenge medical professionals despite the broad availability of pharmaceutical interventions. This study provides exciting data about the impact that WellGen’s proprietary black tea extract has on important biomarkers related to both exercise and health.” Dr. Carter previously founded the Centre for the Study of Exercise, Nutrition and Muscle Science at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, which specialized in the preparation of elite athletes for international competition.

In this study, the proprietary WellGen extract demonstrated both anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant benefits. Inflammation and oxidation are important factors in the pathology of diabetes, and WellGen also plans to study the impact of the proprietary black tea extract on important clinical measures in people with diabetes. WellGen plans to commercialize a medical food product for the treatment of diabetes.

North Brunswick, NJ and Blauvelt, NY – December 17, 2009 – (PRWEB) WellGen, Inc., a biotechnology company at the crossroads of foods and pharmaceuticals, and RFI Ingredients, a manufacturer of innovative natural ingredients, are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) covering a range of areas for cooperation.  The new partnership is designed to enhance the business of both companies and bring exciting new natural products to the market.  Products will have a strong base in science, solid clinical support, and affirmed GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status.

The MOU serves as a framework for collaboration on several high-growth opportunities: the creation of new medical foods for people with inflammation-related diseases for which there are major unmet needs; the creation of new dietary supplement and functional food products for consumer and health care professional markets; and the development and supply of natural ingredients with strong scientific and clinical support.

Commenting on the new relationship, Dr. Roddy Carter, president and chief executive officer of WellGen, states “the complementary skills of WellGen and RFI Ingredients will work synergistically to enhance the companies’ natural product offerings.   Both companies have been acknowledged for their innovation and share a common interest in developing proprietary, high-quality products supported by strong clinical evidence. This collaboration will couple WellGen’s scientific and clinical know-how with RFI’s infrastructure and expertise in the natural products market. “

WellGen uses proprietary biotechnology methods and a deep understanding of natural products chemistry to develop and distinguish natural materials which they market in products for therapeutic purposes.  WellGen is focused on inflammation-related disease for their medical food products and is currently working on a new medical food for diabetes.

RFI Ingredients, a manufacturer of natural ingredients has created a supply chain model and infrastructure that focuese on vertical integration and enhanced controdl over raw materials.  They have broad capabilities in ingredients supply and several proprietary ingredients in their portfolio of products.  While RFI\’s core business in ingredient supply, they also have two consumer brands, SoTru and PhytoRich.

“The proprietary research that WellGen has been conducting over the past four years combined with RFI’s innovative ingredients and superior approach to sourcing will provide a significant competitive advantage for both companies as we pursue parallel market opportunities.” stated RFI chief executive officer/ president and founder Jeff Wuagneux.

About RFI Ingredients

RFI Ingredients is a vertically-integrated manufacturer of innovative natural ingredients for the food, functional food and dietary supplement industries. The company, which was formed in 1989, specializes in the supply of quality ingredients (including certified-organic) and proprietary formulations.  For more information about RFI Ingredients, please see www.RFIingredients.com.

About WellGen, Inc.

WellGen, Inc., based in North Brunswick, N.J., is a biotechnology company at the crossroads of foods and pharmaceuticals.  Using the science of nutrigenomics, the company has developed Alignomx™, a proprietary bioinformatics model that uses gene expression data to determine optimal therapeutic areas for WellGen’s pipeline of proprietary natural products.  Through its in-house expertise in nutrigenomics and natural product chemistry, WellGen is developing proprietary medical foods and has additionally identified several opportunities in the functional food and beverage and dietary supplement markets.  For more information about WellGen, Inc., please see www.WellGen.com.

The report describes the WellGen business model and WellGen’s lead medical food candidate (WG0401):

“The company’s first product – a theaflavin rich black tea concentrate (WG0401) – is an anti-inflammatory agent that, among other effects, decreases expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). COX-2 was the target of multi-billion dollar pharma compounds such as Vioxx, which has been withdrawn from the market for safety reasons. In contrast to Vioxx, WG0401 modulates a number of pro- and anti-inflammatory genes essential to help the body respond to and recover from inflammatory challenges such as intense exercise or illness.”

Commenting on WellGen’s plans for developing medical foods, chief executive officer, Dr. Roddy Carter, MD said, “Despite excellent medical care, there are a large number of major inflammation-related conditions that still challenge us with residual pathology. For WellGen, medical foods will enable us to provide natural product solutions to many of the healthcare challenges faced today.”

The report identifies Medical Foods as a potential growth area for the future; commenting that “The medical foods market should be a lucrative place to market products as these products are often reimbursed and high margin.”  According to the report, opportunities for medical foods are increasing for a number of reasons:

• Food technology has advanced to provide for better tasting and better texture medical foods
• Following its launch, there is an opportunity to expand the consumer base of a medical food based on benefits that are relevant to other populations
• Advances in science will continue to link additional diseases to diet and nutrition

The report identifies that innovative players like WellGen are transforming nutraceutical development by conducting “pharma-like” research in order to demonstrate the value of their medical food products. Through this approach, WellGen “may be able to publicize more of the research they have undertaken to establish the nature of the effect of the nutraceutical in treating, preventing or curing a disease state”.

The report notes that these innovative start-ups will be attractive acquisition candidates to significant strategic players. “Key Players and Innovative Start-Ups in Nutraceuticals” specifically states, “The technology to support this process of extraction and testing of novel nutraceutical compounds is only now becoming a reality and has driven the growth of a number of companies that are adopting a biotech approach to nutraceutical development. It is likely that this trend will continue and grow, with the smaller innovative companies of today offering acquisition and licensing opportunities for the largest food and ingredients companies in the near future.”

As for the future of the industry, the report remarks “Emerging companies developing novel extracts or pure compounds and conducting early research before selling to larger players, according to a biotech model, may be representative of the future of the industry. Once a few companies are seen to be commercially successful by applying this model … a new nutraceuticals industry may really take off.”

“We are delighted that WG has been recognized as an innovator by strategic market experts. We are determined to bring value to consumers, health care professionals, and our investors by employing our technology to discover and develop safe medical food products that address major inflammatory diseases.”

If you would like to purchase this report, please contact Paul Rodrigues, global account director of Global Business Insights in the UK: Telephone: + 44 (0) 207 675 7505, Fax: + 44 (0) 207 675 7170, E-mail: prodrigues@globalbusinessinsights.com.

For a copy of WellGen’s primer on medical foods, please contact Bob Hellauer, WellGen CFO at rhellauer@wellgen.com.

About WellGen, Inc.

WellGen, Inc., based in North Brunswick, N.J., is a biotechnology company at the crossroads of foods and pharmaceuticals.  Using the science of nutrigenomics, the company has developed Alignomx™, a proprietary bioinformatics model that uses gene expression data to determine optimal therapeutic areas for WellGen’s pipeline of proprietary natural products.  Through its in-house expertise in nutrigenomics and natural product chemistry, WellGen is developing proprietary medical foods and has additionally identified several opportunities in the functional food and beverage and dietary supplement markets.

Contact: Patricia Lucas-Schnarre

Vice President, Marketing

WellGen, Inc.

732-565-3890, ext. 4403

WellGen, Inc. Achieves Important Milestone in Development of Medical Food for Diabetes
Pre-clinical study demonstrates proprietary black tea concentrate significantly improves glucose control

October 1, 2009 – North Brunswick, NJ –Following a successful pre-clinical study, WellGen® today announced that its proprietary theaflavin-rich black tea concentrate, already known to be anti-inflammatory, favorably affected critical biomarkers of diabetes.

The recently completed study examined whether WellGen black tea concentrate affected measures indicative of the control of diabetes such as fasting glucose, postprandial glucose, and HbA1c, an important measure of glucose control which reflects the average concentration of glucose in a subject’s blood over a prolonged time. Secondarily, the study compared the effect of a diet including WellGen black tea concentrate versus a single daily dose of metformin, the first-line pharmaceutical intervention in the treatment of diabetes.

The results of this study demonstrated that a diet containing WellGen’s proprietary nutraceutical significantly improved HbA1c, with a larger beneficial effect than the pharmaceutical metformin. Additionally, WellGen black tea concentrate lowered fasting glucose and significantly reduced postprandial glucose concentrations.

Based on this important finding and other supportive data, WellGen is planning human clinical studies to support a medical food for diabetes using WellGen black tea concentrate. The human study will examine glucose measures and markers of inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes.

WellGen, Inc. studies natural products with anti-inflammatory properties which work at the level of gene expression under its nutrigenomics research program. The Company had predicted a favorable effect on diabetes measures using its Alignomx™ model. WellGen theaflavin-rich black tea concentrate is the first in a pipeline of natural products to go through the Company’s research program that applies biotechnology and pharmaceutical practices to discover and develop medical food products.

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