Nova Laboratories

Nova Story: The Nature Inspired Solution

Nova is a health and beauty company that develops, manufactures and markets health supplements, functional foods, and natural skin care products. For every consumer who is passionate for a good life, Nova delivers hope and happiness through good health.

In 1997, our founder started the long and winding road from the research laboratory at the back of his pharmacy to find the medicinal values of Phyllanthus niruri. He invested all his resources and started the risky research of Phyllanthus niruri. Many researchers consider research as risky because exploring new discoveries or ideas may not lead to positive outcomes. However, his focus to establish a liver protection product that is effective and science-backed made the adversaries seem small. The starting point for the research was to identify the active compounds in the plant. He screened through more than 500 fractions of the plant extracts and tested the liver protective effects of each fraction on animals. After identifying the active fractions, he continued the research by determining the quantity of the active fractions that will provide the maximum beneficial effects. This was carried out by testing the liver protective effects on rats with more than 300 fractions at different dose levels. Another important part of his study was to determine the safety of the product. The long-term safety tests done include the 6-months safety study on rats and 9-months safety study on rabbits. The animals were fed with the active fractions of Phyllanthus at levels more than 20 times the normal dose used for human consumption. At the end of the studies, all the vital organs and important blood parameters were checked to ensure that the products were safe even at high doses. Based on the above findings, the product was formulated with a unique delivery system to ensure it is well absorbed when taken orally. One of the big formulation challenges for herbal-based products is the diversed nature of the active fractions which contain many compounds with different chemical properties and hence different absorption characteristics. After three years of trying, he had sucessfully developed a unique delivery system that was able to increase the solubility and subsequent absorption of all the compounds in the active fraction. This is a broad-based delivery technology which can be used in many herbal products to improve solubility and absorption. This unique formulation is known as Phytomatrix Formulation. Finally, the product was tested for the stability of its active components and for its shelf life. The product wash tested at 30oC for 2 years to ensure that the product is stable and safe to be consumed throughout its shelf life.

Translating Plant To Pill

For that period spanning more than 10 years, our founder had spent the best parts of his life developing an effective herbal product using Phyllanthus niruri. There were times, during his research he faced challenging situations and failures such as technological inadequacies, negative findings and lack of financial resources. However, the sense of purpose and tenacity were on full display and finally, he delivered a product that is approved for clinical trial in patients. The business principle of Efficacy First that guided him during that period has also defined how we do business untill today. It has become the life-long guiding principle for Nova and is deeply rooted in our Four Promises that we made to our customers.