Dr. Muhammed Majeed, CMD of Sami Labs Ltd. received this award from the Ministry of Large and Medium Industries, on May 30, 2003. The award has been given to the company for exports of high value-added herbal extracts, fine chemicals, and spice oleoresins, which are used as food supplements or nutraceuticals, to USA, UAE, Japan and the European Union.

The Global Nutraceutical Event,Vitafoods International, was held on13th - 15th May 2003, at the Palexpo Centre, Geneva, Switzerland. Sabinsa Corporation exhibited innovative new botanical extracts and nutritional fine chemicals at this show (Booth # 4907). According to the organizers of the exhibition and conference, the event was a grand success, attracting decision-making professionals from all over the world. A total of 2,132 people visited the show this year, a 42% increase over last year’s numbers.

For the first time, a foreign company engaging in alleged Intellectual Property (IP) theft at a dietary supplements industry trade show has been stopped in its tracks. Sabinsa Corporation, known for vigorously protecting its IP, obtained an emergency injunction from the United States District Court against Alchem International, Ltd. when it was observed that the company was offering to sell products which infringed upon two of Sabinsa’s patented ingredients, ForsLean® and Bioperine®‚ at Supply -Side East in Secaucus NJ.

According to Mark C. Sysler, Sabinsa’s Sr. EVP for Marketing and Sales, "defending a company’s Intellectual property against some foreign patent infringers is a struggle. These companies will attend or exhibit at a trade show, offer to sell ingredients that are protected by a US patent, and leave the country before action can be taken by the patent holder. They then follow up on those leads from overseas and it is difficult to pursue legal action against them."

In this case, Sysler went before US district Judge Pisano on Tuesday May 6, 2003, just after the trade show opened. The judge issued a temporary order restraining Alchem from "1.Infringing Sabinsa’s United States patent no. 5,804,596 either directly, contributorily or by inducement, by importing, using, making, selling or offering to sell any Coleus forskohlii extract in a concentration of 3% or greater, specifically including any sale, advertising, promotion, display or mention of the products at the Supply Side East trade show, and 2. from infringing Sabinsa’s United States patent no. 5,972,382 either directly, contributorily or by inducement, by importing, using, making, selling or offering to sell any piperine extract from black pepper in any concentration,specifically including any sale, advertising, promotion, display or mention of the products at the Supply-Side East Trade Show."

As summarized by Mark Sysler, "…we encourage our industry to respect the intellectual property rights of others."

Methylselenocysteine is a selenoamino acid found naturally in vegetables such as garlic and broccoli. It is a bioavailable and safe form of the essential trace mineral nutrient, selenium. Selenium in the form of Selenocysteine is an essential component of antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase and is also found in several proteins in the body.

Antioxidant enzymes containing selenium, protect cells against oxidative damage. Studies in animal models have shown that Methylselenocysteine is effective in cancer chemoprevention. The mechanism of action of methylselenocysteine in these models, is believed to be through the generation of monomethylated selenium species by endogenous enzymes. These in turn generate superoxide and induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) by the inhibition of proliferation of cancer cell. Methylselenocysteine is not incorporated into body proteins, making it completely bioavailable for chemoprevention, and the synthesis of selenium-containing enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase.

Selenium is an essential micronutrient for the well being of humans. Inadequate selenium intake results in deficiency leading to a variety of disease conditions. Selenium is present naturally in several plant and animal foods. Brazil nuts, walnuts, grains, meat and seafood are good sources of selenium. Dietary exposure from these sources varies with geographical location, depending upon the selenium content in the soil. Situations where adequate amounts of selenium cannot be obtained from natural resources warrant the use of selenium supplements.

Research reveals that a monomethylated selenium metabolite is needed for the chemopreventive benefits of selenium compounds. A recent study hypothesizes that gamma-glutamylmethylselenocysteine found in high selenium garlic, serves primarily as a carrier of Methylselenocysteine, which has been demonstrated to be a potent cancer chemopreventive agent in animal carcinogenesis bioassays.

Methylselenocysteine is therefore potentially useful in preventive health maintenance. The immunological role of selenium is well documented. Additionally, adequate selenium nutrition offers a line of defense against viral infections and chronic diseases as well. Methylselenocysteine in light of its bioavailability and natural occurrence in food sources, is an efficacious selenium supplement.

Patents describing processes for the novel synthesis of MSC, are pending.

Reference:

1. Cronin, J.R. (2000) Alt. Complement.Therap. 6(6):342-346; Ip,C. et al.(2000) Cancer Res. 60(11):2882-2886;
   
   
2. Ip,C. and Lisk (1994) Carcinoge nesis 15(9):1881-1885;Medina, D. et al.(2001) Nutrition and Cancer 40(1):12-17.

Sabinsa Corporation was invited to speak at the 5th Annual Marketing meeting held in Mazatlan, Mexico for customers of Advanced Nutrition, S.A.DE which took place May 22nd through the 25th. Topics such as arthritis, diabetes, eye care and weight management were presented to a group of 120 participants from all over Mexico at this convention led by David Gallardo, General Manager and Javier Rayas, Commercial Director of Advanced Nutrition.

The four day event was a ‘thank you’ to each of the participants for demonstrating their leadership in distributing products to every corner of Mexico."Forging a strong relationship, Sabinsa Corporation feels this is very unique opportunity offered to us and we thank David and his team for inviting us to their 5th Annual Convention," states Mr. Shaheen Majeed, Executive Assistant to CEO. "Even more unique is the opportunity to work with a company that cares for the people and the products they produce for them."