Morristown, NJ  11 April 2023 – PLT Health Solutions, Inc announced that it has begun offering CITES-compliant Rhodiolife® Rhodiola rosea in North America. This new development will assure its Rhodiola customers a secure supply of a premium, highly sustainable product that meets all regulatory requirements. In November 2022 CITES – the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna – approved a proposal to add Rhodiola spp. to Appendix II. This is a list of species that are subject to controls in international trade. CITES is a voluntary organization, but its decisions are considered binding for the 184 countries that are members. With raw material sourced from the Altai Mountains, extracted in Spain and marketed in the United States, PLT and innovation partner Nektium (Las Palmas, Spain) work with multiple government agencies on three continents to achieve CITES compliance.

According to Devin Stagg, Chief Operating Officer for PLT Health Solutions, the work the two companies have done on CITES compliance underscores a commitment to sustainability for Rhodiola rosea that has been at the forefront of their sourcing and manufacturing strategies for decades. “The CITES program is unique in our industry in that it requires certification and permits related to sustainability for every shipment at every stop along an ingredient’s supply chain. There are no CITES-certified brands or companies, unlike what occurs with organizations like the Non-GMO Verified Project, Kosher, Halal, or USDA Organic. CITES is a Government-to-Government program, which means we work with multiple agencies, each having their own region or country-specific requirements to become CITES compliant,” he said. “Today, PLT has CITES-compliant Rhodiolife available for our customers. The expertise we have developed in this area will ensure we have adequate supplies of this material, and our customers can rest easy that the documentation is handled,” he said.

Sustainability at the Forefront

As one of the first businesses to successfully commercialize Rhodiola rosea extract, PLT innovation partner Nektium pioneered sustainable harvesting and traceability practices for Rhodiola for decades. Since 2012 Nektium has undertaken third party audits of their practices in Siberia every two years. These efforts help to strengthen the sustainable supply chain of Rhodiola rosea. In 2017, PLT and Nektium undertook a successful third-party sustainability and ingredient identity audit, working with Botanical Liaisons and NaturPro Scientific.

In September 2022, PLT announced Nektium’s cultivation program for Rhodiola rosea. This groundbreaking project was the result of over a decade of work in which Nektium was able to achieve a physical and phytochemical profile for its cultivated material that is identical to wildcrafted Rhodiola. Cultivation of Rhodiola rosea has been attempted around the world for some time, but few have achieved success on anything approaching a commercial scale.

Supporting a Premium Rhodiola Ingredient

According to Stagg, sustainability is now a ‘cost-of-entry’ for the Rhodiola rosea business, but providing an optimal ingredient requires more effort. “With a CITES listing, consumer products companies are going to shy away from non-sustainable Rhodiola. But there are other top of mind issues for this ingredient  – including traceability, ingredient identity, quality, and capability of being included in novel delivery systems.”

“The Nektium ID Assessment program includes multiple identity tests on every batch of Rhodiolife, including macroscopic and sensorial analysis, development of chromatographic profiles, and independent DNA barcode analysis to ensure authenticity of the raw material. The material is then standardized to provide precise levels of key bioactive compounds, rosavins and salidroside. The resulting HPLC ‘fingerprint’ of the Rhodiolife extract is consistent from batch to batch, and matches with that of the native root. It’s that kind of attention to detail that defines what a premium ingredient can be and is our commitment to our customers,” Stagg said. “Authentication is especially important when adulteration is suspected. Recently, the American Botanical Council’s Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program suggested that high demand for Rhodiola rosea has led to it being mixed or interchanged with other Rhodiola species before being exported from Asia.” he added.

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Morristown, NJ 12 September 2022 – PLT Health Solutions, Inc announced that it will begin offering its  Rhodiolife® Rhodiola rosea ingredient made from a cultivated source of root materials. The cultivation  program – developed by PLT innovation partner Nektium Pharma (Las Palmas, Spain) – is the result of  more than a decade of effort focused on achieving a physical and phytochemical profile identical to  previously supplied wildcrafted material. Rhodiolife will continue to be sourced from the Altai Mountain  region of Central Asia. The quality control program for Rhodiolife will continue to include state-of-the-art  ingredient identification and analytic techniques. The cultivation program will address concerns that crop  up with all wildcrafted botanicals from time to time, including harvest size, security of supply, the  phytochemical composition of wild-harvested materials and sustainability.

According to Devin Stagg, Chief Operating Officer for PLT Health Solutions, the new cultivation program  can serve as a model for the industry as it seeks to balance commercial growth with sustainability.  “Conducted properly, wildcrafting is a highly sustainable method of obtaining botanical raw materials. But,  when an ingredient like Rhodiola rosea becomes more popular, nature isn’t always in the position to  respond to a global surge in demand. It’s important that we understand this and constantly take steps to  ensure sustainability, or we won’t have access to the natural, botanical materials that form the foundation  of our products,” he said. “The cultivation and quality control program that support Rhodiolife are built on  thoughtful growing and harvesting methodologies and based on cutting-edge scientific techniques to  ensure the production of an ingredient that is of high quality and consistent batch to batch,” he added.

Matching an Industry Standard

Rhodiola rosea is an extremely hardy plant well suited to the cold climate and high altitude where it grows  and is now farmed. The Altai Mountains derive their name from the Mongolian word ‘altan’, meaning  ‘golden’, which may be why Rhodiola rosea is often referred to as the ‘golden root’. The new cultivated  material is grown not by seeds but by vegetative propagation with root rhizomes – a technique that is  faster, more dependable and, crucially, ensures that the molecular composition of the cultivated Rhodiola  rosea is identical to the wild-grown plant. Nektium has put into place a Quality Assurance system that  monitors Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACPs) governing rules of production, harvesting,  storage, and record keeping. These are accompanied by training programs and traceability and recall

plans. Manually harvested, the Rhodiola roots are transported to Nektium’s facilities in the Canary Islands  for further processing.

Nektium’s Quality Assurance team conducts multiple identity tests on every batch of Rhodiolife, including  macroscopic and sensorial analysis, the development of chromatographic profiles and independent DNA  barcode analysis to ensure the authenticity of the raw material. A gentle extraction process is used to  unlock the active ingredients while preserving the natural phytochemical profile of the root. The material is  then standardized to provide precise levels of bioactive compounds. The resulting HPLC ‘fingerprint’ of  the Rhodiolife extract is consistent from batch to batch and matches with that of the native root. According to Stagg, this approach offers greater peace of mind around authenticity, which is especially  important when adulteration is suspected. Recently, the American Botanical Council’s Botanical  Adulterants Prevention Program suggested that high demand for Rhodiola rosea led to it being mixed or  interchanged with other Rhodiola species before being exported from Asia.

Sustainability and Social Responsibility

As one of the first businesses to commercialize Rhodiola rosea extract successfully, Nektium has an  established history of working alongside and supporting the local partners who undertake the harvesting  of this valuable plant. To assure that a similar quality of work was being conducted Nektium and PLT  worked with Botanical Liaison’s Trish Flaster on establishing criteria for continuing sustainability of the  cultivated material. “PLT Health Solutions is one of those companies that has taken sustainability  seriously for the past 30 years by creating programs and lines of communication within their supply chain.  Nektium’s approach with this cultivation project for Rhodiola rosea fits this goal because its habitat is a  fragile ecosystem – alpine. Nektium’s first of its kind cultivation achievement relieves the pressures from  the alpine terrain,” she said.

“Cultivation may be the first step in being sustainable, but it is more than simply planting a seed and  having it grown. Multiple factors must be considered before claiming to have a sustainable cultivated raw  ingredient. As part of our sustainability audit, we reviewed propagation and growing techniques, growing  locations, water sources, harvest timing and technique and post-harvest handling. PLT also takes cultural  sustainability seriously, caring for those who handle the product at every stage of the process. In each of  these areas, the Rhodiolife material is produced in the most sustainable manner possible and may well  be the most sustainable Rhodiola rosea on the market today,” she added.

For more information on this ingredient, visit www.plthealth.com/rhodiolife.