The Taiwan-headquartered company is also anticipating growing demand for TWK10 from various South East Asian markets for both sports and healthy ageing needs.
Lactiplantibacillus plantarum TWK10 was first launched in Taiwan in 2017 and was subsequently launched in North America, Europe, and Brazil through an exclusive distribution deal with Lonza, as well as in South Korea through a partnership with contract manufacturer COSMAX NBT.
In South Korea, Canada, and Taiwan, TWK10 products are allowed to make anti-fatigue claims.
For example, in Taiwan, the claim “Based on animal experiment results, TWK10 can claim to help delay the onset of exercise fatigue and promote the elimination of fatigue after exercise” was recently approved by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration late last year.
In South Korea, the strain, isolated from Taiwan fermented cabbage, is allowed to claim “may help to improve endurance of exercise performance capability.”
Speaking to NutraIngredients-Asia, Lisa Chen, marketing director, Synbio Tech, highlighted that South Korea was the fastest growing market in the use of TWK10.
“South Korea is of course the fastest growing market. We have a strong partner, COSMAX NBT, which is promoting TWK10 a lot. The market is growing quickly.”
Just last month, CJ Wellcare launched the new product, BYOcore Power Up Lactobacillus containing 10 billion CFU of TWK10, pantothenic acid, and selenium in capsule form.
Another product containing the ingredient is M-NERGY which comes in capsule form.
A similar trend was also seen in Brazil, which Chen said was unexpected.
She said that between Q4 2023 and Q1 2024, over 10 new products containing TWK10 have been launched in Brazil.
“The other market that I am surprised at is Brazil. In the end of last year and the beginning of this year, we saw a lot of TWK10 products in the market.
“At least 10 products have been launched in the Brazilian market and we are surprised at this,” she said.
Some examples of products containing TWK10 include Naturallis TWK10.
The use of TWK10 is mainly for sports nutrition products in these markets.
New Kaohsiung factory
The company is expecting to operate its new Kaohsiung factory early next year.
With the new factory, the company is expected to step up its annual probiotic raw material production from the current 100 tonnes to 500 tonnes.
All probiotic raw material from the company is produced in Taiwan.
The new factory, which is the company’s second facility in the Southern Taiwan Science Park, Kaohsiung, will also provide ODM/OEM contract manufacturing services.
Chen said that this was because the company was seeking to grow its contract manufacturing businesses in South East Asian countries which have a relatively lower number of local contract manufacturers.
These include Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Chen said that in the past one to two years, the company has received queries from these markets for TWK10’s use in sports nutrition and muscle health products for healthy ageing.
In Thailand, TWK10 is expected to be approved by the local regulator and Chen believes that the growing gym industry in the country is expected to drive the uptake of the probiotic.