Jean-Marie Raymond, Pharmactive Biotech Products, SL Founder: ‘We Aim to Generate a Positive and Significant Impact on People’s Health and Well-Being’

“Innovation is the core of our activity, introducing new clean-label and low energy use technologies that uniquely concentrate and preserve the bioactives of botanical extracts.”

Increasingly, businesses around the world are responding to a global imperative, and consumer demand to go green. And more than 80 percent of people respect companies and brands that adopt eco-friendly practices, according to an international survey.

Virtually all consumers are worried about at least one environmental issue, it found. But while more than half boycott companies with unsustainable practices or products.

In light of the foregoing, we’re thrilled to present Pharmactive Biotech Products, SL — a pioneer biotechnology company that produces high-quality saffron extracts for mood improvement, stress, and sleep support. Pharmactive is considered one of the most innovative, high-quality, and green company of the Nutraceutical industry.

The company was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.

Jean-Marie Raymond, Pharmactive Biotech Products Founder, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an Excerpt.

Creating Positive Vibes

Pharmactive Biotech is a privately-owned Spanish company that develops and manufactures differentiated natural ingredients supported by scientific evidence. Pharmactive makes these innovative ingredients available to other companies in the Nutraceutical, Pharmaceutical, and Veterinary Industries…for marketing and distribution. The company aims to generate a positive and significant impact on people’s health and well-being. It mainly offers premium botanical ingredients backed by its scientific studies, which are all “approved by an ethical committee”.

Achieving a Rare Feat

Everything started with a little group of entrepreneurs led by Jean-Marie Raymond, who developed a breakthrough idea and vision that came to life with the traditional and Mediterranean plant of saffron. Establishing the highest quality standards as a core value of the business combined with continued R&D investment, Pharmactive was the first company to introduce saffron extract in the market for mood improvement.

“Today, we are worldwide leaders in producing high-quality saffron extract, present in more than 40 countries worldwide, and continually launching new botanical ingredients endorsed by science to boost our customer´s brands and formulations. In line with the great growth, we are expanding our facilities (R&D, QC, manufacturing plant, and warehouse), every year.”

Moreover, some of Pharmactive’s raw material such as saffron is grown in the natural terrain of Castilla-La-Mancha, Spain. The company also works with select partner-farmers who operate in the Mediterranean to source other botanicals that it offers.

“We aim to bring the huge richness of our natural environment and privileged cultural heritage closer to the people while bringing science to their healthy choices.”

“We place transparency, sustainability, and trustworthy manufacturing practice at the top of our agenda while maintaining full control of the supply chain. We apply rigorous quality controls for our products. Besides, we have numerous quality certificates including various ISO, doping-free, European GMP certifications, and organic certification for some of our botanicals.”

Breaking Boundaries

Pharmactive develops and optimizes its extraction methods and analysis techniques to increase and verify the level of key bioactives and efficacy. Some of them are even protected by patents. The company uses AFF ON Cool-Tech™, a natural proprietary extraction process that maintains peak freshness, purity, and potency of its botanicals. The clean and green technology process is gentle on the plant and safeguards the potent bioactive compounds. It does not use harmful solvents, synthetics, or additives. It is a fully eco-friendly, low-energy technique that requires minimal industrial processing and generates very low waste.

“Our botanical formulations are based on scientific evidence. For example, our saffron extract affron^® has the backing of six human clinical studies demonstrating their efficacy in promoting mood, and sleeplessness improvement. Twenty-five percent of our workforce is dedicated R&D personnel. All of our studies are rigorously designed and approved by ethical committees, as mentioned above. Moreover, our extractions are standardized by HPLC technology and the biomolecules chosen are the ones bringing true beneficial properties and ensuring the purity of the ingredient.”

Furthermore, Pharmactive extractions are based on 100 percent natural extracts. It has invested much effort into deploying the optimal production processes and controls, in some cases expending years of research to reach the top-notch quality and to discover the best way to preserve actives and to reduce energy use. Additionally, the company acquires quality seals from relevant external regulators to earn the full confidence of the customers as to the clean-label attributes of its all-natural ingredients.

“When developing a new ingredient, we focus on finding the best botanical species source with the strongest science behind and history of traditional use. Regarding the consumers’ education, we are members and sponsors of ‘The American Botanical Council’, being the ‘proud adopters of saffron’ and frequently participating in articles about different botanical species as experts.”

“Our continuous effort and investment in research and innovation will be even stronger in the future and expect to offer disruptive ingredients that will be able to improve people´s life and well-being.”

Jean-Marie Raymond: A Reliable Leader

Jean-Marie Raymond, French by birth, studied marketing and information technology at the University of Wolverhampton and completed an Executive MBA at the Instituto de Empresas (IE) in Madrid. His professional career comprises nearly 20 years in the field of botanical and natural ingredients for food supplements. In 2006, he was awarded the ‘National Top Sales Awards’ by Actualidad Económica Magazine (Spain).

“We place transparency, sustainability, and trustworthy manufacturing practice at the top of our agenda while maintaining full control of our supply chain and working with farmers directly.”