TL;DR

Successfully delivering peptides, especially in oral forms like gummies, presents unique challenges due to their delicate nature and the body’s digestive processes. A key hurdle is protecting the peptide molecule from enzymatic degradation in the mouth and stomach, as well as the harsh acidic environment. Advanced delivery systems are crucial for shielding peptides during their journey through the gastrointestinal tract, acting like a protective ‘submarine’ or ‘train carriage.’ One such system involves an initial protective coating, which is then strategically stripped away in the intestine. This allows for the targeted absorption of the unburdened peptide. Simultaneously, absorption enhancers like sodium caprate (Capromax P) play a vital role by temporarily and reversibly opening tight junctions in the intestinal lining. This allows the peptide to pass through the gut wall into the bloodstream, with the cells returning to their normal state within 60-90 minutes. The manufacturing process for peptide-infused products, such as gummies, also requires careful consideration to ensure the peptide and its delivery system remain intact and effective. Ultimately, consumers and industry partners must conduct thorough research to ensure that the chosen delivery method genuinely facilitates peptide bioavailability and efficacy, delivering on the product’s promise.

The Complex Journey of Oral Peptides

Hendrik: There’s a there is going to be a problem on the way. They’re easily destroyed. And then you add to that, you want to put it in an oral form, which making it into a gummy, for example, means that the substance, the pectin, or the gelatin that the gummy is made of, it needs to get warmed. Peptides do not like heat at all. And so you have to be very careful, you have to protect that molecule at all cost, and that’s where our technology comes in. Not only does it protect the molecule, probably better. Than most other technologies, it’s also able then to release it in a targeted way into a doorway or an access point in the body that is prepared to accept the molecule the way it is. I apologize, that was quite a long speech here.

Will: No, no, I think that was useful though, honestly. Just again being able to visualize things in a more realistic way. Like real world application, I think is very helpful for the average person who doesn’t necessarily in molecules like you guys do so much.

And I think it’s important to get that information out there. I was speaking to a business associate yesterday who has her oldest son started college last year, and she is not an Our universe, she’s not in our industry, the family is very health-oriented and takes care of themselves. But her son came home from college for summer and was talking about nothing else other than all his friends are shooting up peptides, all his friends are injecting themselves.

Will: And so I want to make sure there is proper information out there because now I’m thinking, okay, that, I understand if someone in their 60s has an interest in,. How can I boost testosterone production or how can I make myself hurt less when I go to the gym? But now we’re talking about twenty year olds. And when you were twenty, you don’t really have a sense of mortality or problems that could, develop from doing things just because they’re cool and they’re all over social media. And so I think having good information out there is important.

Ulli: A hundred percent., I know I have a lot of friends in the entertainment world that are obviously, always about the next the next thing that can help you rejuvenate better.

It can help you recover better from working out, can help you just aesthetically. And so I have a lot of friends who are either currently doing using peptides or very interested in it. And a lot of them I don’t think even the ones that are using peptides probably don’t even know most of this information.

Will: No, they don’t. They they use first, they do it first and then maybe ask questions later. Yeah. And no, I think maybe you can come at it from both angles. Yeah. Getting a little bit more into the technical side of things after a little bit more of a broad question. How do formulation strategies like liposomal delivery, microencapsulation, nanoencapsulation, and cyclodextrin inclusion try to solve these delivery challenges?

Innovations in Peptide Delivery Systems

Hendrik: Yeah, this is a fascinating topic. And I would say if people learn 1000 things about peptide formulation and specifically oral delivery of peptides, the single most important factor is this. The two things we’ve talked about. Work against each other. Formulating for delivery to get past the stomach, but then formulating for delivery to maximize absorption, work against each other. And none of these systems accomplish those two things. And so it’s extremely important to figure out how you’re going. To formulate to have a coherent integrated system that accomplishes those two things seamlessly when you’re accomplishing two goals which are divergent in their nature. And the only system that I know of that can do that is Tesserac’s unique combination of intellectual property in the system that we’ve assembled to do it.

Hendrik: The things that you mentioned, whether it’s liposomal.

And some of these other delivery systems, they start off trying to coat a molecule or a peptide in order to get that peptide through the stomach, past the gastric acid, because, as we said, we have to protect the peptide. Otherwise, you’ve compromised the payload, you’ve destroyed the value of what you’re trying to deliver, you have no peptide to get into the body. The challenge then lies in the fact that you have coated. Something that you’re trying to deliver, regardless of how you’ve coded it. Whether it’s a nano delivery system, a liposomal delivery system, it doesn’t matter. You’ve put a shell around the peptide, making it harder to absorb this already large object into the body. How are you going to get it into the body when a large object is even larger with a coating around it?

Ensuring Bioavailability with Absorption Enhancers

Hendrik: Most organizations haven’t figured that out when it comes to oral delivery. What Tesseract does is we use a cyclodextrin delivery platform, which has been around for 130 years. It’s an extraordinary delivery system. And yet, the largest of the of the cyclodextrins is only 1.75 roughly nanometers in size. That’s billionths of a meter. And we use that to either encase or cap the ends of the peptides but then once we get past the stomach past the gastric acid we use our DEX key system to unlock that peptide strip these away so we’re down to the individual peptide and then that’s what we work on absorbing with our caprimax the sodium caprate opening these tight junctions on the wall of the of the astroent Intestinal track as Wooli described, so we can pull in the smallest component, the peptide itself, without the burden of this wrapper, this protective coating around the outside of the peptide any longer and be successful at working on absorption.

Hendrik: That is a comprehensive and integrated to thoughtful system. It’s well formulated, but that’s the type of challenge that all brands have to think about, all manufacturers have to think about. All consumers or patients or doctors have to think about anyone who’s out there in the value chain in this business trying to think about how they are going to work on consuming, delivering, offering something in this space because it is by its inherent nature a contradictory model.

Will: , yeah, the two problems really do seem quite opposite of each other.

One is trying to protect, and the other is trying to freely give. And then you have the it’s almost from my perspective, it almost seems like three separate problems. ? And so that’s impressive. I don’t even begin to try and understand how exactly that all works. But your explanation of it physically makes sense, but that’s so impressive.

Hendrik: Well, I I think I think the final thought is that can consumers to some extent end up defaulting or relying on trust. They put their trust in brands, they put their trust in doctors, et cetera. And the architecture of this industry is just starting to take shape. And I think the message here for any organization that’s listening is, you you have to work to establish that trust and lead the consumers in the right direction. Direction by giving them a quality product. But, ultimately the consumers, the organizations who partner with different groups, they really have to do their research to make sure that these factors are evaluated before they bring products to market and make sure that they’re offering something to the market, to the patients that really are going to offer what the patient deserves, what they need. Otherwise, the patient’s wasting their money. Brands are not going to, are not going to be sustainable in the market for the long run because eventually the market will figure out that they don’t have a solid offering.

Will: Of course.

Yeah., offering a product that doesn’t give any of the benefits that essentially is what you’re selling, obviously. It’s harder to tell, but I feel like this in this space, it I feel like it happens more often than not. But you’re so hear about the company. That just fall off overnight because people realize they’re buying nothing. Right.

Ulli: Well I think that’s that’s the big challenge when you work in an environment where the results are gradual and the element that delivers the result is absolutely microscopic and most people feel it’s very complicated. Like nobody would buy a car that doesn’t drive. Nobody would buy a vacuum that doesn’t vacuum or hairdryer that doesn’t dry. The list goes on and on and on and on. But many, many, many years ago, I have a background in the luxury and cosmetics industry. Many, many years ago, some very high executive in the skincare industry coined the term it’s hope in a jar. And it’s unfortunate because that’s never that is the that is the not great side of the industry.

Manufacturing Considerations for Peptide Gummies

Ulli: Because the results are so gradual and on such a molecular level that it feels like it’s hope in a jar. But if it’s truly hope in a jar and it never pays back, then no consumer should ever buy it, right? If you don’t get results, if you don’t get the data that it’s working, if you don’t have that physical experience that It is working, then it’s just that, it’s hope in a vial or hope in a gummy. And I think that’s just, from a manufacturing perspective, I just don’t, and from a consumer perspective, I just don’t think that’s good enough.

Will: No., I want something that is more than hope. I want something that, does the job. Yeah. No, that’s I think that the integrity of that shows through in this conversation. We’ve we’ve answered a little bit about, I guess, why it’s being brought up, but I’ll still ask the whole question.

Because I am curious to even just the very specific first part of it. But what is sodium caprate and why does it come up in conversation about oral peptide delivery and how it can enhance permeation?

Hendrik: Yeah, well It is one of the very effective methods of facilitating the opening of the tight junctions in the gastrointestinal tract. Interestingly enough, it’s very well researched as an alternative to something that’s commonly used in GLP1. All those individuals who are taking ozymphic and other GLP1s to lose weight. And are starting to use oral forms of those. They have a product in them known as SNAC, SNAC. Sodium caprate is an alternative to SNAC, and the research shows that it’s more than twice as effective at a much lower dose than SNAC.

Comparison at a glance