Per reporter: Chen Hao Per editor: Wei Guanhong
A year ago, NMN, the "immortal drug" that burst the bubble due to a paper ban, recently attracted widespread attention again. The State Food and Drug Administration announced that the NMN of the two enterprises was approved as a cosmetic raw material for the record. For two consecutive trading days on March 18 and March 21, Kingdomway (002626. SZ), Erkang Pharmaceuticals (300267. SZ), Zhongsheng Pharmaceutical (002317. SZ) and many other NMN concept stocks ushered in a rising tide.
Liu Nan, a researcher at the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Biology and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with the "Daily Economic News" reporter that the decline in the level of NAD+ in the human body is one of the main reasons for aging, and by supplementing NMN, NAD+ can be activated, thereby playing a role in delaying aging. He also said that every year the academic community publishes a large number of research results on NMN, and there is no evidence of adverse reactions to taking NMN.
At present, the main channel for domestic consumers to buy NMN is some well-known cross-border e-commerce platforms, and related products are displayed as imported from abroad. However, the reporter recently investigated and found that most of the "imported" NMN sold by these cross-border e-commerce platforms are OEM products of domestic manufacturers, and many industry insiders told reporters that the shipment price of a bottle of "imported" NMN with a price of thousands of yuan is only more than 100 yuan.
In fact, there are still regulatory problems for NMN products sold by domestic cross-border e-commerce platforms. Cui Lili, executive director of the E-commerce Research Institute of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, told reporters that at present, there are no quality standards and authoritative testing for imported NMNs, and product quality and safety cannot be guaranteed, and its efficacy should be strictly controlled.
NMN regulation ushered in a new breakthrough
According to public information, the full name of NMN is "β-nicotinamide single nucleotide", in 2013, the Harvard University research team first found that NMN can delay the aging process of mammals, and since then NMN has become a research hotspot in the field of anti-aging. NMN is a metabolite produced in the human body, and it is also rich in VEGETABLES and fruits such as broccoli, avocados, and edamame.
Liu Nan has long been committed to anti-aging research, and an NMN human clinical research project conducted by his team in China has been approved. He told reporters that NMN is a precursor to NAD+, which plays an important role in a variety of cellular metabolic reactions and is closely related to human aging. "We say that supplementing NMN is actually to activate NAD+, thereby delaying aging." Why not supplement NAD+ directly? Because NAD+ belongs to macromolecules, it cannot be directly absorbed by the human body by oral administration, and nmN molecular structure is small and can be directly absorbed by the human body. Liu Nan introduced.
So, how safe is NMN? Liu Nan said that NMN is a metabolite produced by the human body, not a small molecule created by man, so in theory there will be no safety problem. "In animal models, many research teams have done research on chronic toxicology and acute toxicology, and have not found significant side effects after doing it. Japanese researchers have done human oral NMN studies, and have also not seen any side effects that can be characterized. In addition, in the United States, Japan and other places, NMN has long been approved as a dietary supplement, and there are not a few people taking NMN in China, and there are no cases of adverse reactions. Liu Nan said.
In 2020, NMN is considered to be an "immortal drug" in the domestic fire, related concept stocks have risen sharply, some brokers even expect that NMN as an anti-aging health care product, has the potential to reach a market size of 100 billion yuan. However, at that time, a hot track was punctured by a paper ban.
In January 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Letter on Investigating illegal operations of "Immortal Drugs", which clearly pointed out that NMN has not obtained licenses for drugs, health foods, food additives and new food raw materials in China, and NMN cannot be produced and operated as food. The letter also requires all localities to investigate and investigate relevant illegal acts.
After the release of the letter, the NMN circuit was suddenly cold. However, in the middle of March this year, NMN once again attracted widespread attention, and on March 18 and 21, for two consecutive trading days, Many NMN concept stocks such as Kingdomway, Erkang Pharmaceutical, and Zhongsheng Pharmaceutical ushered in a rising tide. The discussion in the market pointed to the approval of NMN as a cosmetic raw material for the record.
The reporter inquired about the official website of the State Food and Drug Administration and noted that its public announcement of NMN as a cosmetic raw material was approved for the record, and the filing company was Yuyao Laifu Siben Health Technology Co., Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Geneport, a well-known enterprise in the NMN track, and the filing date was January 24, 2022. In addition, on March 29, 2022, Kangying Cranberry (Zhongshan) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. was also approved for the record of NMN as a cosmetic raw material. Within three months, the relevant filings of the two companies were passed, and NMN achieved a new breakthrough in the regulatory field, but there is no information at present that NMN will be allowed to be used for food and health products.
Image source: Screenshot of the official website of the State Food and Drug Administration
Most of the imported NMNs are OEM
Due to the explicit prohibition of domestic supervision, domestic consumers who want to buy NMN can only buy imported NMN through cross-border e-commerce. In the United States, Japan and other places, regulation is relatively loose, NMN can be used to produce dietary supplements. Therefore, most of the imported NMNs on domestic cross-border e-commerce platforms are displayed as the United States or Japan.
According to the Announcement on the Publication of the List of Cross-border E-commerce Retail Imports issued by relevant departments, the list of cross-border e-commerce retail imports contains "unmixed vitamin B and derivatives", and as a derivative of the vitamin B family, imported NMN can also be sold through cross-border e-commerce platforms.
On some well-known cross-border e-commerce platforms, a bottle of NMN that claims to be "imported from the original" is often priced at more than 1,000 yuan. However, Liu Nan told reporters that at present, more than 90% of the production capacity of domestic imported NMN comes from China, "because the China Food and Drug Administration did not give blue hats, some domestic manufacturers exported the raw materials for the production of NMN to the United States and other places, pressed tablets abroad, packaged into a foreign brand, and finally sold to China through cross-border e-commerce." ”
The reporter recently investigated and found that many domestic foundry companies are still publicly attracting investment, claiming that they can provide NMN OEM services. The reporter saw on the website of one of the foundry companies that it claimed to have an independent processing plant covering an area of about 11,000 square meters in the United States and could produce different dosage forms including NMN.
Image source: Screenshot of the website of a foundry company
The reporter contacted a representative of the above manufacturers Feng Jun (pseudonym) in the name of the partner, Feng Jun said that the company's factory is located in California, the United States after the production of NMN in the United States and then airlifted to Hong Kong, China for delivery, the delivery price is about 150 yuan / bottle, after the delivery of the goods, customers directly transport the products to the bonded warehouses around the country.
"Like some of the certifications of the product, including the factory test report, these are all without any problems, which is equivalent to saying that we help you produce NMN, and then you ship to the domestic cross-border e-commerce platform to sell." We have production licenses, 1000 customers to cooperate, we can do 1000 brands. Feng Jun said.
Feng Jun said that the current "imported" NMN sold on the domestic cross-border e-commerce platform basically belongs to OEM, "their origin is in foreign countries, and the so-called imports are actually OEM oems done by some large and small enterprises in China." Feng Jun also sent a NMN product produced by his factory to the reporter, and the reporter saw that the product was priced at more than 2,000 yuan a bottle on an e-commerce platform.
Feng Jun also revealed that at present, there are still a small number of domestic manufacturers in the illegal production of NMN, "there are also some companies that produce good products in China, go to the United States, Japan and other places to turn around and then ship back to sell, that kind of shipment price may be 30 yuan a bottle, but we do not do that." There are also a lot of fakes in it, the product is mixed with some vitamins, yeast powder and the like, he does the same as the real thing, unless you take it to test, otherwise you can't see it. ”
Li Ming (pseudonym), an investment representative of another foundry, claimed that its factory was located in Hong Kong, China, and shipped goods to merchants by sending them from Hong Kong to bonded warehouses. "If you have a trademark, you will use yours, and if you don't have one, we will provide it to you." We transport the raw materials from the Mainland to Hong Kong, where we complete the flake bottling and packaging. We have more blue hats, and most of the so-called imported NMNs on the mainland cross-border e-commerce platform are actually OEM, many of which are made by us, and we have made about 200,000 bottles. ”
Li Ming said that the delivery price of NMN produced by his factory is about 100 yuan per bottle, and the general price is more than 2,000 yuan. "The cost of e-commerce platforms to brush orders is also very high, and they need to have profit margins to support." This is very ok, you can come and grab a wave of money. Li Ming said bluntly.
Cross-border e-commerce platforms have regulatory difficulties
In a report released in February 2021, Ai Media Consulting pointed out that the data shows that the market size of China's NMN ingredient health products in 2020 will reach 5.106 billion yuan, an increase of 34.87% year-on-year, and it is expected that by 2023, it will climb to 27.013 billion yuan with a growth rate of nearly 70.25%, and the industry will develop rapidly.
After making a breakthrough in the field of cosmetic raw materials, will NMN be able to obtain approval for health care products in the future? On December 30, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation stated in the "Reply to Recommendation No. 1067 of the Fourth Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress" (hereinafter referred to as the "Reply") that the current positioning and safety of NMN as a food raw material is not clear, the lack of national food safety standards, it is recommended to carry out safety assessment or clarify national food safety standards in accordance with the new food raw materials; NMN and related products have not yet registered health food in the mainland, and NMN as a health food raw material is not yet mature. Monitoring and research need to be further strengthened.
The "Reply" also said that for NMN, the mainland is currently in the research stage, and the China Institute of Standardization and the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine have the ability to carry out NMN-related research, including nmn use history, safety, functionality and functional claims at home and abroad. In the next step, the State Administration for Market Regulation will work with the National Health Commission, the State Food and Drug Administration and other relevant departments to support the basic research of NMN and related products and guide the development of NMN and related product specifications.
"I think the future should be liberalized, NMN has gained wide recognition in the field of anti-aging. China now needs to face the problem of an aging population, there is one thing that can work, why not use it? Liu Nan said that the clinical trials done by his team hope to find biomarkers, and then guide individuals to use NMN dosage, so as to help individuals achieve good use effects.
Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng said in an interview with the "Daily Economic News" reporter that if NMN becomes a dietary supplement in the future, the scenarios, scope and categories of its application should be very broad. "For cross-border e-commerce, how to effectively supervise this piece is also a difficult problem that the country will solve in the next step." Zhu Danpeng said.
A number of interviewees told reporters that when domestic consumers buy imported NMN through cross-border e-commerce, there is still a regulatory gap to a certain extent, which also leads to uneven product quality.
Cui Lili said in an interview with the "Daily Economic News" reporter that at present, there are no quality standards and authoritative testing for imported NMN products on cross-border e-commerce platforms, and there are regulatory problems. "Due to the existence of market demand and the emergence of an emerging consumer market, some enterprises have problems such as false publicity, exaggeration, illegal production and operation due to the purpose of pursuing profits, and even 'counterfeit drugs', and product quality and safety cannot be guaranteed."
Cui Lili also said that for imported NMN products, their efficacy should be strictly controlled. "If the publicity does not match the actual situation, then there is a violation of consumer rights." At present, the only way to complain is to pursue the sales enterprise through the sales platform, or to protect the rights through 12315, the local market supervision department, or even the third-party consumer complaint platform. ”
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