cGP Lab looks to take homegrown product for diabetes complication global

It was a chance meeting between two lifelong horticulturalists and blackcurrant growers with a leading scientist, which sparked a homegrown start-up looking to take on the world. 

Dr Jian Guan spent over 30 years of her life researching the benefits of cGP, a chemical NZ-grown blackcurrants are rich in. Her work, combined with the know-how of growers Jim Grierson and David Eder led to cGP labs founding in 2020. 

They’ve since gone on a journey of discovery to understand the relationship between blackcurrants and cGP, with multiple patents and products leveraging the unique benefits of cGP. 

Caffeine caught up with new cGP Lab CEO Dr Amanda Wiggins for this week’s startup spotlight. 

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What gap in the market does cGP labs see?

We’re a health tech company, and we’ve been in the dietary supplement industry selling products for about two years now, but we were seeing a really big opportunity. The thing we’re most excited about, is some research where we found recently that our molecule cGP is effective for a condition called ‘diabetic peripheral neuropathy’.

A bit of a mouthful but about 50% of people who have diabetes will develop this condition. 

And it’s when the nerves in your feet die due to damage to blood vessels, which means you’ve interrupted blood supply to the nerves. We have a clinical trial that showed our product as effective for this condition. So that’s the big opportunity we’re pursuing. 

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Outside of helping people, what is so big about the opportunity here?

Well, the market size currently is estimated around 4 billion. It’s got a compound annual growth rate of around 9%. Diabetes is growing in almost every country - well, every country that has access to Western food anyway, so it’s not going away anytime soon. We’ve decided to pursue a particular category of product that is different from dietary supplements. It’s called food for special medical purposes. 

 What’s attractive about that is that it sits somewhere between supplements and pharmaceuticals in terms of the barriers to entry and the level of evidence required to show efficacy. 

It’s not as hard or as long as a pharmaceutical, but it has higher barriers to entry and the ability to make health claims, which is a bit different from dietary supplements. 

We think that’s going to be a sweet spot for us in terms of a product category, and we know that there’s currently nothing else on the market for this diabetes complication. 

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What stage are you at in the business, and what’s next?

We’re looking to partner with large global companies that specialise in the category of food for special medical purposes. Ultimately, we’re looking for a licensing agreement to license intellectual property. So we’ve patented this finding. And we’re looking for partners to take it global now. We are doing a cap raise in the New Year, and will be looking for around 3 million. Some of that will be directed towards pursuing this big opportunity. 

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What made you want to join cGP Labs?

I myself am a neuroscientist by training, with a PhD in neuroscience. The reason I was attracted to this company in the first place was that cGP itself. The molecule that we’re commercialising has got a huge body of research behind it, showing it’s neuroprotective. 

It helps people who have brain challenges, whether that’s a stroke, the onset of dementia, or mild cognitive impairment. Reading all that research excited me about the company. And now we’ve got this new discovery: a nerve problem outside the central nervous system. 

I’m pretty motivated by all of that to work with something that works. It’s natural, and it can help people. That’s what gets me out of bed. 

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What advice would you give other startups at a different stage in their journey?

We see so much opportunity with our molecule because of the way this molecule works, which has lots of health benefits, but you do have to choose a path. So choosing a path in itself requires you to say no to things. And that’s hard, right? That’s hard when you’re full of the entrepreneurial mindset, which is to seize opportunity. Being quite disciplined in what you’re pursuing, I think, is just so top of mind at the moment for us.I would encourage other founders to get your board in a room with a really good strategy facilitator and just spend a day working out what you are going to do and what you’re not going to do.