A Calgary plant biotech company’s safflowers, already heading toward use as potential factories for new drugs, are part of a new marketing deal for their use in making food supplements.
SemBioSys Genetics has previously modified its safflower lines to produce human insulin and a next-generation cardiovascular drug with a goal to commercialize both. The company announced Friday that one of its genetic technology partners has signed a deal to make food oil high in gamma linolenic acid (GLA), using SemBioSys’ safflowers as the factory.
Arcadia Biosciences, a Davis, Calif. biotech firm that supplied the genetics to make SemBioSys’ safflowers produce high-GLA oil, has signed a marketing and distribution deal with Bioriginal Food and Science for the oil.
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Bioriginal, a Saskatoon company, distributes essential fatty acids such as omega-3, -6 and -9, in various formats such as oil, milled seed and “functional food” ingredients, drawing from sources such as fish, borage and flax.
SemBioSys had worked with Arcadia to make safflower lines that produce more than 40 per cent GLA, which it said compares favourably to other natural sources of GLA oils such as evening primrose and borage at 10 and 20-23 per cent respectively.
Arcadia’s high-GLA safflower oil would “significantly reduce” the number of GLA oil capsules a consumer would have to use to get the oil’s full benefit as an anti-inflammatory ingredient or skin health product, SemBioSys said Friday.
“With a more convenient, more highly concentrated source
of GLA, Arcadia believes the market can grow” beyond current industry estimates of US$100 million per year for GLA oil in the U.S., SemBioSys said.
Arcadia’s deal with Biorginal would mean milestone payments and royalties for SemBioSys when production of high-GLA safflower lines is scaled up successfully, SemBioSys said.
