Published Study Reveals NIAGEN® Nicotinamide Riboside is Effective NAD Precursor, Protect Cardiac Function in Animal Model of Heart Failure

Press Release

ChromaDex Corp. (NASDAQ:CDXC), a fully integrated, science-based, nutraceutical company devoted to improving the way people age, announced important cardiac research by Dr. Mathias Mericksay and colleagues at the l’Université Paris-Sud, and Dr. Charles Brenner and colleagues at the University of Iowa, published in the journal Circulation.  This research revealed that in a mouse model of heart failure, a loss of NAD levels is accompanied by activation of the nicotinamide riboside (NR) kinase pathway; administration of NIAGEN® in this model stabilizes NAD levels and leads to protective effects on cardiac function that may someday lead to a new therapeutic option for heart failure patients.

With heart failure in the United States alone affecting about 5.7 million adults and costing an estimated $30.7 billion each year, identifying mechanisms of failures in heart bioenergetics and identifying protective and therapeutic approaches is one of the highest biomedical priorities in the developed world. In this new research, Drs. Mericksay, Brenner and colleagues discovered that in heart failure, activation of the NR kinase pathway, which occurs as a result of energy stress and NAD depletion is common to humans and mice.  Because of activation of the NR kinase pathway, NR restores but nicotinamide fails to restore NAD levels. Measures of cardiac function are improved with oral administration of NR in this mouse model of heart failure.

Frank Jaksch, CEO of ChromaDex, concluded that, “It is very exciting to see research from our collaborative study program, leading to peer reviewed publications in top tiered journals, that expands our knowledge of the potential therapeutic indications for NR.”

Because the depression in NAD and the activation of the NR kinase pathway are common between humans and mice, the research strongly suggests that NIAGEN® may be capable of protecting against human heart failure. Nicotinamide riboside, discovered as a vitamin by Dr. Charles Brenner, is a patent-protected molecule that was developed and commercialized by ChromaDex as NIAGEN®.  NIAGEN® is produced under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and has New Dietary Ingredient Notification (NDIN) filed with the US Food and Drug Administration without comment.

Remarking on Dr. Mericksay and Brenner’s discovery, Dr. Roger Kornberg, the Winzer Professor in Medicine at Stanford University, 2006 Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry and Chair of the ChromaDex Scientific Advisory Board, stated, “This is but another remarkable discovery about the unique value of NIAGEN® in maintaining NAD-dependent functions not only in health but also in disease states.”

Robert N. Fried, President and Chief Strategy Officer of ChromaDex added, “This is a highly valuable contribution from the most powerful global team of NAD scientists, who include Dr. Charles Brenner, our Chief Scientific Advisor, Dr. Mathias Mericksay, a renowned molecular cardiologist, and others. The combination of Dr. Brenner’s metabolomic technologies with gene expression profiling tell us exactly which diseases have NAD deficits accompanied by induction of the NR pathway.”

To learn more about ChromaDex, please visit www.ChromaDex.com.