We are happy to extend a warm “EmerGence welcome” to our newest client, Guelph, Ontario-based SP Nutraceuticals Inc.. Welcome to Canada’s bioscience incubation program!
SP Nutraceuticals was founded in 2016 to commercialize novel natural health products. The startup was founded by Chief Executive Officer Dr. Paul Spagnuolo and Chief Operating Officer, Christina Barbato. SP Nutraceuticals Inc. works closely with the Spagnuolo Lab as well as other principal investigators around the world.
The startup believes that there is a wealth of powerful agents in naturally derived sources, such as plants – and the fruits, seeds, bark, leaves, flowers and vegetable of those plants – that can be used to prevent or treat diseases affecting the lives of Canadians.
The Spagnuolo Lab has developed a novel nutraceutical-specific chemical library that can be screened using high throughput technologies. This library led to the discovery of the products SP Nutra is now developing. They believe that it’s the only one of its kind in the world! Their goal is to produce novel products, derived from natural sources, which are scientifically proven to be safe and effective in the prevention or treatment of disease.
While SP Nutra believes that people should have options and choices when it comes to their health: many health benefits from consumable goods either have not been proven, or simply cannot be achieved through regular consumption.
SP Nutra’s products are developed using some of the best scientific processes and equipment available in Canada in order to properly extract, formulate and test these products to ensure maximum efficacy. Professor Spagnuolo is among only a handful of researchers worldwide, applying the pharmaceutical industry’s rigorous drug discovery research processes to food-derived compounds, called nutraceuticals.
“For far too long ‘scientifically proven’ and ‘naturally derived’ have been mutually exclusive concepts,” they say. SP Nutraceuticals strives to unleash the power of nature through scientific process and testing in order to bridge the gap to between nature and science.
The company has many products in the discovery stage, and two products which are in development stages.
The first product came out of the Spagnuolo lab around fatty alcohol/ lipids derived from the seed of an avocado. Dr. Paul Spagnuolo was published in the journal Cancer Research for his work in showing that these lipids destroy leukemia stem cells while leaving the healthy cells unharmed.
SP Nutraceuticals Inc. is continuing to support patents and testing of this product for human consumption so that it can one day be offered as a treatment for those suffering from leukemia.
SP Nutraceuticals Inc. is also developing a natural health produt derived from the leaf of a plant which has been shown to prevent and treat the most common type of kidney stone. The company has secured a provisional patent and is currently undergoing regulatory approval processes to commence human clinical trial in 2018.
SP Nutraceuticals Chief Executive Officer Dr. Paul Spagnuol
Dr. Spagnuolo is a professor at the University of Guelph, Department of Food Science. His lab is dedicated to NHP and drug discovery. He has a PhD in Nutraceutical Immunology, completed his fellowship in drug discovery at Princess Margaret Hospital and has for the past 5 years been a Principal Investigator in the therapeutic applications of nutraceuticals. He is also a board member of the Natural Health Products Research Society of Canada.
SP Nutraceuticals Chief Operating Officer, Christina Barbato
Christina Barbato has been practicing law for eleven years, has an Honours Bachelor of Commerce and her LLB. Christina works to secure financing, develop marketing strategies for the company as well as secure relationships and contracts for manufacturing and distribution.