1.000 milljarða alþjóðlegur markaður.

Varnarefni eru notuð í landbúnaði víða um heim og áætlað er að markaður með þau á heimsvísu velti sem nemur nærri eitt þúsund milljörðum íslenskra króna. Þessi markaður fer ört stækkandi og áætlað er að hann muni tvöfaldast á næstu fimm árum. Stór hluti þeirra efna sem nú eru notuð er kemískur en mikil eftirspurn er eftir náttúrulegum staðgönguefnum. Evrópusambandið styður slíka umbreytingu og stefnir á helmingun á notkun kemískra varnarefna fyrir árið 2030.

Þróunarstyrkur frá Evrópusambandinu.

Algalíf og ImmunRise hafa þegar fengið þróunarstyrk úr Eureka Eurostars áætlun Evrópusambandsins sem nemur rúmlega 100 milljónum íslenskra króna, til að þróa ný og umhverfisvæn plöntuvarnarefni úr örþörungum. Frumtilraunir síðustu missera lofa góðu og mögulegt að innan fárra ára rísi ný örþörungaverksmiðja á Íslandi sem hluti þessa verkefnis.

Eitt öflugasta örþörungafyrirtæki Evrópu.

Algalíf er nú þegar leiðandi fyrirtæki í framleiðslu örþörunga á heimsvísu en það er stærsti framleiðandi Evrópu á fæðubótaefninu astaxanthín. Unnið er að lokauppsetningu nýrrar hátækni örþörungaverksmiðju fyrirtækisins á Ásbrú í Reykjanesbæ. Þegar hún hefur náð fullum afköstum á næsta ári mun framleiðslan verða rúmlega þreföld miðað við það sem nú er. Þar með verður Algalíf stærsti framleiðandi í heimi á náttúrulegu astaxanthíni í samtals 13.300 m² húsnæði.

Forstjóri Algalífs er Orri Björnsson og starfsmenn eru um 70.

Franskur frumkvöðull í rannsóknum.

ImmunRise Biocontrol er franskt nýsköpunarfyrirtæki sem sérhæfir sig í rannsóknum og þróun lífvirkra varnarefna úr þörungum. Fyrstu afurðir þess eru umhverfisvæn sveppavarnarefni fyrir landbúnað sem nú eru í skráningar- og vottunarferli hjá viðeigandi yfirvöldum í Evrópusambandinu og Bandaríkjunum.

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Starting the 1st of September 2023, along with the successful bid for EUREKA Eurostars 3 – Call for their project SEEDS OF LAVA (SOLA), both companies will aim to extend their innovative development by complementing their current strengths. The strategic partnership will establish a strong base for the development of new natural biocontrol products dedicated for plant protection in the agriculture market. The global biocontrol market turnover is valued at USD 6.5 Billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 13.7 Billion by 2027.

Joint Press Release Algalif-IBF

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“With sustainable farming and the avoidance of animal products becoming important aspects of personal well-being, there is a rising interest in vitamin-rich, ecologically friendly superfoods like microalgae. Cultivated in glass tubes made of specialty glass, experts believe this single-celled organism could be the future of human health.”

Read more here.

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Algalif´s current production capability is 1.500 kg of pure Natural Astaxanthin annually. After the expansion, the yearly production will be 5.000 kg of pure astaxanthin. Thereby, Algalif will be the world’s biggest producer of Natural Astaxanthin from microalgae. The company only uses green geothermal energy and pristine natural Icelandic water.  

The new plant will also make Algalif the most sustainable, and most technically advanced Natural Astaxanthin producer in the world. This is in accordance with Algalif´s goals to be a leader in sustainability and quality in the microalgae business, as well as a reliable supplier of Natural Astaxanthin at a competitive price.

Algalif will be the world’s biggest producer of natural astaxanthin when its new production plant in Iceland will be operational by the end of 2023.  

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But what does quality look like at Algalíf? We chose to comply with GMPs, „Good Manufacturing Practices“, as this system is a key factor in medicinal quality around the world. To understand why this GMP quality system is so impactful, we have to know a bit about how it all started.

Before and well into the 1800s, the medical field was based more in superstition than in science. The Dark Ages lived on in ideas like sin-induced illness, miasma, and bodily humors. Seeking medical attention often resulted in harmful treatments such as purging- the use of mineral toxins to induce vomiting- and the failure rates of these „curative measures“ were staggering; many died as a result of their medical treatment.

Concerned with this, a group of 11 physicians came together in 1820 to discuss what could be done. They established the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), a publication detailing how to make various medicines of the time. This information was made freely available to best protect patients against the „evil of uncertainty“ in medicinal products.

In 1906, after a contamination event affecting diphtheria antitoxin caused the deaths of 13 children, the US Government passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, which required all medicine producers selling products in the United States to comply with USP standards.  The USP publications were then translated into multiple languages and made available outside of the USA. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was also established to enforce the new act of law.

Another event, the Elixir Sulfanilamide poisonings of 1937, resulted in the deaths of over 100 children due to the use of diethylene glycol in cough syrup. After understandable outrage from the public, the US Government updated the Food and Drug Act to include requirements for safety testing. Production companies now had to prove that they were following the USP standard and that it was safe to consume their product.

Then in 1962, the thalidomide tragedy came to light. Some 10,000 babies were born all across Europe with birth defects so severe that nearly 40% died shortly after birth. These birth defects were caused by the drug Thalidomide, which was prescribed to pregnant women to ease morning sickness. Europe was heavily impacted, but American families were spared this tragedy thanks to the work of Ms. Frances Kelley, an application reviewer with the FDA. In the late 1950s, Ms. Kelley reviewed the application for Thalidomide sales in the USA. She rejected it because she felt there was not enough data to prove the safety of the drug for the unborn child. Thus, the drug could not be sold in the States.

In the wake of thalidomide, the world responded with various acts of law to ensure the safety of medicinal products, and though the tragedy did not impact America, the US Government responded as well. The Food and Drug Act was updated once again to mandate clinical trials before taking a new drug to market and also to stipulate good practices that production facilities were required to follow and prove during government inspections. GMP was born.

Since then, government agencies around the world have adopted GMPs as part of their regulations for the production of medicinal products in an effort to protect the end users and keep such catastrophes as diphtheria antitoxin contamination, elixir sulfanilamide poisoning, and thalidomide a thing of the past.

We at Algalíf Iceland ehf. want the best for our customers and end users, and have thus decided to voluntarily comply with the quality system that has been protecting the public worldwide for over 60 years.

An Algalif Blog by Carolyn Gavin Quality Assurance Specialist.

carolyn@algalif.com

The benefits of astaxanthin for humans will be explored in future blogs – keep up to date by following us at www.algalif.com.

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Algalíf and Divis Nutraceuticals have recently introduced a partnership that has led to a new and revolutionary product called AstaBead. 

It is a 5% natural astaxanthin beadlet, which is a type of microencapsulated oleoresin that contains natural astaxanthin. It outperforms other options in various applications due to its exceptional features such as ease of handling and uniformity.  

The Astabead 5% comes in both compressible and cold-water dispersible forms that can be used for everything from tablets and capsules to gummies, nutritional bars, and drinks.

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Algalif’s scientists reviewed a large number of studies and selected the 72 best ones based on methodology and scientific reliability. The main categories are Oxidative balance, Cardiovascular health, Healthy skin, Healthy Aging, Fighting Diabetes, Recovery from Heavy Exercise, Combinatorial Applications and Food Applications.  

The publication contains various information about astaxanthin and research on the substance in humans. There are also extracts from dozens of studies and references on where to access the studies themselves. The Natural Astaxanthin Human Clinical Studies Overview can be accessed and downloaded from Algalif’s website (www.algalif.com). 

Algalíf has published the most comprehensive ever available Overview of Human Clinical Studies on Natural Astaxanthin.  

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Astaxanthin helps to outperform

Even though we might recognize astaxanthin as the pigment that provides flamingos, lobster, and salmon meat with their distinctive colors, the primary producers of the compound are simple multicellular microorganisms. When taking a step further to understand why this magical pigment is produced by these simple organisms, we must keep the forces of evolutionary biology in mind. For instance, Haematococcus pluvialis, the freshwater microalgae species used at Algalíf, produces astaxanthin in high concentrations to outperform other organisms that thrive in similar conditions. Astaxanthin production aids the algae in competition for light, nutrients, and other essential resources. In other words, astaxanthin has played a role in the success of Haematococcus pluvialis in the brutal process that we generally refer to as natural selection.

Benefits are very easy to see

Sometimes, evolutionary biologists have to spend a lot of time finding out what caused the selection pressure for certain features of present-day organisms – or to be more precise: how these features have helped the individuals to survive the competition of natural selection. However, this is not the case with the astaxanthin production in microalgae like Haematococcus pluvialis, because the benefits are very easy to see. As nature‘s most potent antioxidant, astaxanthin protects the microalgal cells from extremely reactive chemical compounds that can result from various environmental conditions.

Astaxanthin protects the cells

At optimal conditions, Haematococcus pluvialis does not produce any astaxanthin. Instead, the algae utilizes its resources to grow and reproduce at the green vegetative cell stage. Unfortunately, there are a lot of factors that can make the growth conditions for the microalgae unfavorable. For instance, during the warmest periods of the year, the temperature can get too high, which also leads to increased evaporation from the ponds and lakes where the microalgae lives, increasing the salinity and exposing the cells to ultraviolet light. Moreover, access to CO₂ might decrease with elevated temperatures and essential nutrients might be lacking as well. When the microalgae sense these unfavorable environmental conditions, it reacts by shifting their operations toward the accumulation of astaxanthin and stop reproducing. Astaxanthin protects the cells through this harsh period and increases the chances of the cells surviving. When the conditions become favorable again, the cells can recover to the green vegetative state and resume growing and reproducing.

Winning the battle of natural selection

This extraordinary mechanism that has helped certain types of microorganisms survive harsh environmental conditions and win the battle of natural selection can also be beneficial to humans. The positive effect of astaxanthin as a food supplement has been reported by a large number of scientific studies and is common knowledge in the scientific community.

An Algalif Blog by Jan Eric Jessen, M.Sc., Head of R&D.

jan@algalif.com

The benefits of astaxanthin for humans will be explored in future blogs – keep up to date by following us at www.algalif.com.

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Algalif Iceland is now a Certified CarbonNeutral® Company. This is in accordance with the company’s Environmental Policy Manifesto by the internationally renowned CarbonNeutral® Protocol. Algalif produces plant microalgae using clean natural water and green geothermal energy. All Algalif´s astaxanthin products are also certified as CarbonNeutral®. 

Algalif choose CarbonNeutral® as a green certification partner based on its outstanding reputation. Among other international companies with the same certifications are Microsoft,  Logitech, and Sky.

CarbonNeutral® has played a critical role in enabling clients to confidently make clear and credible claims about their climate programs and navigate the complicated and rapidly developing landscape of voluntary climate action. 

Algalif is the only Natural Astaxanthin producer in the world that is certified as a CarbonNeutral® company. 

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An original study performed by the Quality Department of Algalif Iceland ehf. revealed that these astaxanthin isomers can transform into each other depending on the conditions of the analysis. The chemical behavior of astaxanthin greatly affects its quantification and explains poor between-lab reproducibility which impacts the whole astaxanthin industry.

 The original paper is published in Molecules and accessible through the link.

Dr. Oleksandr Virchenko of Algalíf.

Dr. Tryggvi Stefánsson of Algalíf.

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