WACKER and EVANIUM join forces to bring berberine to the global market as a functional health solution

However, the ingredient comes with its own challenges in terms of commercialization: berberine is poorly soluble and poorly absorbed. Conventional products therefore require daily doses of 1,000 to 1,500 mg, often split across several intakes, which is a frequent cause of gastrointestinal discomfort and poor consumer compliance. To overcome this limitation, EVANIUM developed the OPTISOLV^® Technology, a dual-coating system that combines an inner cyclodextrin-based core with an outer phospholipid shell. By stabilizing berberine in a crystal-free state, the technology enhances absorption compared with native berberine, enabling more efficient delivery and supplementation at lower doses. This creates new opportunities for more consumer-friendly products in metabolic health and emerging areas such as longevity. The innovation behind the ingredient has already been recognized by the industry, with EVANIUM’s berberine ingredient named Most Innovative Nutraceutical Ingredient at the Vitafoods Europe Startup Challenge 2026 in Barcelona.

The partnership is an example of open innovation applied to commercial speed. Rather than developing a competing formulation in-house, WACKER is adding a fully developed, award-winning, and market-ready ingredient to its nutrition portfolio, where it complements WACKER’s established cyclodextrin business.

“This partnership demonstrates how open innovation can accelerate speed to market by combining the strengths of a specialized technology innovator with WACKER’s expertise in bringing differentiated health ingredients to customers worldwide,” said Christian Hauk, Head of BioIngredients at WACKER’s Biosolutions business division. “CAVABERINE^® perfectly complements our successful product family and expands our portfolio in one of the fastest-growing areas of consumer health.”

For EVANIUM, the partnership provides commercial reach that supports the company’s global growth plans. “Our OPTISOLV^® Technology solves a formulation problem that the industry has been working around with higher dosages for years,” said David Ofner, Co-Founder and CTO of EVANIUM. Felix Rolka, Co-Founder and CEO of EVANIUM, added, “WACKER brings the global network, the supply chain reliability, and the regulatory depth to put that technology in front of customers in every relevant market. That combination brings the ingredient to market in only a few months, faster than either of us could have managed alone.”

Beyond the product itself, the collaboration demonstrates how startups and established companies can combine complementary strengths to bring innovation to market faster. The ingredient was developed, validated, and scaled to industrial production by EVANIUM before WACKER came in. The partnership adds visibility and market access: a startup that has already done the difficult technical work, and a corporation with the global reach to take the result to customers worldwide right away. For WACKER, partnering on a finished technology removes years of internal development work. For EVANIUM, it opens up global reach and visibility in the early stages of commercialization of its wider portfolio.

For customers and consumers, this means faster access to differentiated, science-based solutions that address the limitations of conventional ingredients and enable new opportunities in metabolic health and beyond. WACKER will introduce CAVABERINE^® to the North American market at SupplySide Global in Las Vegas, on October 28. The US is the largest single market for metabolic health supplements and is the primary commercial focus of the partnership in its first phase. The global market size for weight loss supplements in 2026 is estimated to be 35.8 billion US dollars.

EVANIUM is a Germany-based life-science company developing innovative ingredients based on its IP-protected delivery technology OPTISOLV®. The company focuses on improving key properties such as solubility, stability, and bioavailability of ingredients for applications in nutraceuticals, functional foods, nutricosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Through its proprietary OPTISOLV® technology platform, EVANIUM enables more effective ingredient absorption and performance, helping partners create high-performance, clean-label products. Headquartered in Regensburg, EVANIUM collaborates with industry partners to unlock the full potential of ingredients.

For more information, visit www.evanium.de