Antioxidant Producers

With the attention that antioxidants are garnering from the health and medical circles, antioxidant producers are finally seeing growth in what could have been a relatively stagnant market after the plague of financial troubles that two of the state's three antioxidant producers have underwent in recent years. Now, antioxidant producers, vendors, and suppliers are saying that production, export and local consumption of Hawaii-produced nutraceutical astaxanthin is back in business as the market continues to grow.

Astaxanthin is a microalgae-based dietary supplement synthetically manufactured by antioxidant producers. Acting as natural antioxants, astaxanthin helps cleanse the blood of toxins and other harmful chemicals. Many clinical trials have found this particular antioxidant powerful against disease-causing free radicals and based on their results, antioxidant producers are manufacturing astaxanthin en masse.

Astaxanthin is produced by antioxidant producers on the Big Island by publicly traded Aquasearch Inc. and Cyanotech Corp. On Maui Island, the antioxidant producers of astaxanthin are Micro Gaia Inc., a subsidiary of Japan's Fuji Chemical Industry Co. Ltd. Each antioxidant producer has its own proprietary process for commercial production.

"Sales have averaged about $2 million per quarter," said Cyanotech President Gerald Cysewski. "It's been that way for the last two years. Although we are expecting to report a loss for the quarter ending June 30, we hope to be cash-flow positive and profitable within two quarters."

The stock price of antioxidant producer Cyanotech fell below $1 in May. By last Tuesday, they were trading at 54 cents. The antioxidant producer has 90 days to get its share price over $1 or Nasdaq will no longer list it on its primary board. The last time it was profitable was in 1997, when it reported net sales of $11.4 million and a net income of $4.1 million for the fiscal year ending March 31.

The antioxidant producer Cyanotech also has another antioxidant product available, called BioAstin. The antioxidant producer sells this at $20 for a bottle of 60 gel caps, each with 4 milligrams of pure astaxanthin. Cysewski said that the product can be purchased at most health food stores in Hawaii as well as at Costco and Wal-Mart in Kona.

Like Cyanotech, antioxidant producer Aquasearch also has had its share of misfortune. It was only on June 17 that it emerged from bankruptcy when a US bankruptcy court judge approved its reorganization plan.

"We are not operating as a debtor in possession, but we still have a lot of issues we have to address," said antioxidant producer Aquasearch President Harry ‘Doc' Dougherty.