Custom Formulation and R&D

Every bespoke product starts as a scientific problem.

How do you deliver an exact dose of an active in a form the body can use? In a format people will take every day? True to its label on the last day of shelf life, in every market where it is sold? Our R&D team answers those questions for every brief, and the formula it develops belongs to you. A catalogue answers different questions.

Start your project

Six disciplines behind every product

Each one is a place where a generic formula falls short.

  • Bioavailability and ingredient form

    The same nutrient behaves differently by form. Magnesium oxide carries more magnesium per gram than bisglycinate but is less soluble, and curcumin is poorly absorbed without a delivery system. We choose each form on the evidence and the research behind your claim.

  • Stability and shelf life

    Actives degrade: vitamin C oxidises, probiotics lose viability, omega-3 oils turn rancid. We design against each failure with water activity targets, barrier packaging and overages set from degradation data, and set shelf life from accelerated and real-time studies aligned to ICH guidance.

  • Manufacturability

    A formula that works on paper can fail on the line: powders that won’t flow, blends that separate, tablets that crumble. We engineer for production from the first sample: flow, blend uniformity for microgram actives, fill weights, compression and disintegration.

  • Sensory and format

    If it tastes wrong, it won’t be taken twice. Bitter botanicals, metallic minerals and high-dose powders need flavour systems and bitter maskers built around them. The format suits the person taking it: capsule count, scoop size, how a powder mixes.

  • Evidence and claims, market by market

    A claim is only as strong as the dose behind it. We set doses from the research and the conditions of use of authorised claims, and check claims registers, novel food status and national limits in every market you sell in.

  • Verification

    Every specification is proved by testing: identity, active content, heavy metals, microbiology and stability. Methods include HPLC for actives, ICP-MS for heavy metals and HPTLC or FTIR for botanical identity. Certificates of analysis come with every batch.
  • GMP certified (Good Manufacturing Practice)GOOD MANUFACTURINGPRACTICEGMPCERTIFIED
  • HACCP certified (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point)HAZARD ANALYSISCRITICAL CONTROL POINTHACCPCERTIFIED
  • ISO 9001 certified quality management systemQUALITY MANAGEMENTSYSTEMISO9001CERTIFIED
  • FDA registered facilityFOOD AND DRUGADMINISTRATIONFDAREGISTERED
  • Food Standards Agency validatedFOOD STANDARDSAGENCYFSAVALIDATED
  • Member of the European Industrial Hemp AssociationEUROPEAN INDUSTRIALHEMP ASSOCIATIONEIHAMEMBER

What we make today is never the limit

Bespoke means the next product can be one nobody has made before. These are formats and technologies our R&D works with now, and the list grows with every brief.

  • Oral thin films
  • Liposomal and emulsified liquids for poorly soluble actives
  • Water-dispersible actives for drinks and shots
  • Effervescent and orally dispersible tablets
  • Bilayer and sustained-release tablets
  • Acid-resistant capsules for actives that must survive the stomach
  • High-load functional gummies
  • Gel sachets and stick packs
  • Nicotine-free functional pouches with any active, release tuned
  • Microencapsulated actives
  • Probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics

We were among the first in the UK to make nootropic pouches, on a slow-release, dry-format platform we built ourselves. Recent work also includes water-dispersible versions of oil-soluble actives, nootropic bars and functional gummies.

Start your project

How a bespoke product is developed

Every project is different, but the science follows the same path. These are the stages a product moves through before its first production batch.

  • 1. Brief and research

    We start from what the product has to do: the actives, the doses the evidence supports, the format, the claims and the markets. Each ingredient’s status and permitted forms are checked for every market you sell in before anything is formulated.

  • 2. Formulation

    R&D builds the formula from the evidence: the form of each active, the excipients that make it manufacturable, and the flavour system that makes it pleasant to take every day.

  • 3. Samples and refinement

    Bench samples are made and refined for dose, taste, texture and appearance, round by round, until the product is right.

  • 4. Stability and testing

    Accelerated and real-time stability studies, with analytical testing against the draft specification, show how the product holds up over its shelf life. The results belong to you with the formula.

  • 5. Scale-up

    The formula moves from the bench to pilot and production batches, with flow, blend uniformity, fill weights and compression checked on the line.

  • 6. Production and release

    Every batch is made to your final specification under GMP, tested before release and supplied with its certificate of analysis.
Start your project

When the evidence doesn’t exist yet

Some claims need new evidence. We work with academic and clinical research partners to design and run studies when a product needs them, from ingredient comparisons to human studies.

Evidence of your own can support what your product says and set it apart from formulas built on borrowed research.

Questions brands ask

Who owns the formula you develop for us?

You do. Your formula, its specification and its data belong to your brand. We keep customers through quality and service, not by holding their formula.

Do you charge for development?

Development is real scientific work, so your quote sets out what it involves and what it costs before you commit.

Can you develop a product that doesn’t exist yet?

Yes. That is what bespoke means. If it can be made and sold legally, we can develop it, and we’ll show you the route, the timing and the cost before you commit.

Can you improve a product another manufacturer makes for us?

Yes. We review it against the evidence, solve stability, dose or taste problems, and move production to us. If your current manufacturer owns the formula, we develop a new one that you own.

Which markets can you formulate for?

Wherever you sell. We build specifications, claims and labels for the UK and EU, the US and other markets, with the documentation each one expects.

How long does development take?

It depends on the format and how much is new. A capsule or powder built from established ingredients moves faster than a new format that needs a full stability programme, and we’ll give you a realistic timeline once we understand your brief.

What testing do you carry out?

Identity, active content, heavy metals, microbiology and stability, using methods such as HPLC for actives, ICP-MS for heavy metals and HPTLC or FTIR for botanical identity. Every batch is released with its certificate of analysis.

Bring us the hard brief.

The products other manufacturers turn away are the ones we want to hear about.

Start your project