Niagen Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: NAGE)

ChromaDex Corp., a global bioscience company with the ticker symbol CDXC, operates in the burgeoning field of healthy aging. Since its inception in 2000, ChromaDex has established itself as a leader in the NAD+ space, focusing on the research and development of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a coenzyme vital for cellular metabolism that tends to decrease with age.

ChromaDex's primary business activities encompass three main segments: Consumer Products, Ingredients, and Analytical Reference Standards and Services. The Consumer Products segment, the most significant contributor to the company's revenue, sold $69.5 million worth of products in 2023. This segment offers Tru Niagen, a dietary supplement that increases NAD+ levels, through its proprietary e-commerce platform, Amazon, ShopHQ, and other digital marketplaces. Additionally, ChromaDex partners with specialty retailers and direct healthcare practitioners to sell Tru Niagen in the United States and abroad.

The Ingredients segment generated $11.1 million in sales in 2023 by providing Niagen, a unique form of NR, to strategic partners such as Nestec Ltd. (Nestlé) for use in their products. The Analytical Reference Standards and Services segment offers research and quality-control products and services to customers globally, generating $2.9 million in sales in 2023.

ChromaDex competes in a cutthroat market, facing competitors like Elysium Health, offering similar products. However, ChromaDex distinguishes itself through its commitment to product quality, scientific rigor, and functional ingredients. The company boasts a robust research and development platform, having forged over 275 research partnerships with leading universities and research institutions worldwide.

ChromaDex's intellectual property is safeguarded by patents, trademarks, designs, and copyrights on its products and services. The company harnesses its analytical reference standards and services segment's intellectual property to create new proprietary ingredients for customers, aiming to develop these ingredients in-house and license them to external companies for commercialization.

The company's manufacturing process involves third-party FDA-regulated contract manufacturers in the United States and the global sourcing of raw materials. ChromaDex has an exclusive manufacturer for the supply of NR, W.R. Grace & Co. -Conn. (Grace), and has entered into a limited licensing agreement with Grace to secure NR supply from a designated third party in specified quantities for purchase in 2024.

ChromaDex's environmental compliance entails various expenses related to Good Manufacturing Practices and the safe handling and disposal of materials used in its research and manufacturing operations. The company does not anticipate incurring substantial additional expenses in its adherence to federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations.

ChromaDex's workforce consists of 106 full-time employees, none of whom are unionized. The company champions open dialogue and fosters diversity, inclusion, and fairness. ChromaDex recognizes its employees' critical role in its success, offering attractive wage and benefit packages to cater to their needs and those of their families.