Research and Development Services

DBS provides research and development services as well as literature investigations services for start-up and small businesses for new products development. DBS develops dietary supplement (DS) and nutraceutical formulations and related R&D based on client needs. The final formulations will belong to the client that requested the services.

We have excellent capabilities to develop and validate a wide variety of formulations and analytical methods for small molecules and natural materials in either the liquid or solid state. We provide identification test, potency/or % active tests, contaminants, and quantitative analyses. Some of the common analytical techniques we use for developing these methods include: LC, MS, IR, thermal analysis, vapor sorption, particle size, microscopy, and others. We have extensive experience with detecting and quantifying minor amounts of contaminants in both the starting substances and final products. We have successfully developed and validated various methods and formulations in our laboratory. We can transfer the formulations and the developed methods to your production site.

The forms of the dietary supplements (tablets, capsules (veggie or bovine), powders, or soft gels are taken into consideration to guarantee that the necessary characteristics are evaluated with the corresponding analytical technique to make the best product.  All methods used in the R&D (both product formulation and evaluation) will be validated according to cGMP and FDA guidelines and those methods can be transferred to your production facility.

In the development of new formulations of DS or nutraceuticals, the client will supply their ideas about the products they want to develop. They must provide what the DS is, what ingredients they envision to be included in the formula, and what form the formulation will be.

1. What are the DS or nutraceutical? Example: It could be vitamins, minerals, nutrients, or a combination thereof.
2. Ingredients—DBS has excellent expertise and 20 years of combined professional experiences among its senior members on the development of all-natural products. This means the staff at DBS are experienced in the development of DS and nutraceuticals using natural raw materials that are from plants and animals but not synthetic. These materials could be plant extracts, seaweed extracts, algae, or animal derived materials.
3. DS/nutraceutical format—when developing a new formulation, the nature of the raw materials plays a very important role in the final form of the product. This form could be tablets, capsules (veggie or bovine), powders, or soft gels. The client must specify what form they prefer for their final product.

We service the needs of companies that have already finished the proof of concept R&D and are ready to produce the prototype. The prototype is as close to the final product as possible, has all the properties of the final product and will be in the form that is envisioned for the final product. The prototype is usually developed for third party testing and validation and to showcase the product to investors, partners, or distributors. We provide the prototype development using the methods developed by the client with fine-tuning to reach commercial grade.

In this service, the client has completed all the proof-of-concept, in-house laboratory scale testing, and evaluations and have developed the prototype. What they need at this point is the third-party validation and evaluation of the prototype to make the final adjustments to meet the required stability, potency, and purity for commercialization.  This is the final stage of R&D where the shelf life, stability, potency/purity, microbial contamination, and chemical oxidation is established for the product prior to commercialization. This is done before the actual small/medium scale manufacturing.