Product Development Process

The key elements of our product discovery and development process are:

Proprietary Taste Receptor-Based Assay Development. The first step in our product development process is to develop proprietary assays based on human taste receptors. [more]

High-throughput Screening and Identification of Lead Compounds. The next step in our product development process is to use our proprietary taste receptor-based assays to identify compounds that bind to human taste receptors, known as hits. [more]

Optimization of Lead Compounds and Selection of Product Candidates. The next step in our product development process is to enhance, or optimize, our lead compounds. Working in conjunction with our collaborators, one or more product candidates are selected for commercialization. [more]

Development Activities. The next step in our product development process is to conduct activities intended to support commercialization by our partners. These activities include product application work with a variety of product prototypes and production scale-up.

First Commercial Sale. Following a FEMA GRAS determination, packaged foods and beverages containing our proprietary flavor enhancers and taste modulators can be immediately commercialized in the United States. We anticipate, however, that our collaborators will test market their products containing our flavor enhancers and taste modulators through a series of consumer acceptance tests over a period of 6 to 12 months prior to initiating any wide-scale commercialization.