Niagen Bioscience Secures Exclusive License to Develop and Commercialize its NAD+ Precursor, Patented Nicotinamide Riboside (Niagen ®), as a Potential Parkinson's Disease Therapy in Agreement with Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway

Business Wire

08-07-2025

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Niagen Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: NAGE) (formerly ChromaDex Corp.), the global authority on NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) with a focus on the science of healthy aging, today announced it has entered into a worldwide exclusive commercial license agreement with the Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. The agreement secures exclusive rights to a body of proprietary intellectual property, know-how, and data. These data are expected to support future regulatory filings for Conditional Marketing Authorization (CMA), Accelerated Approval (AA), and Marketing Authorization (MA) in the EU under European Medicines Agency (EMA) guidelines for the potential treatment of Parkinson`s Disease (PD) using the Company's patented nicotinamide riboside (Niagen ®) molecule.
Niagen Bioscience Secures Exclusive License to Develop and Commercialize its NAD+ Precursor, Patented Nicotinamide Riboside (Niagen), as a Potential Parkinson's Disease Therapy in Agreement with Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway
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With this license, Niagen Bioscience is the only company with the right to seek regulatory approval for a pharmaceutical NR therapy for PD patients. The company retains the right to either commercialize the drug candidate as a potential therapeutic on its own and/or sublicense the program to a strategic pharmaceutical partner to support regulatory advancement and commercialization.
'This milestone underscores our long-term commitment to translating scientific innovation into meaningful therapeutic solutions,' said Rob Fried, CEO of Niagen Bioscience. 'Through our partnership with Haukeland and its world-renowned researchers, we are taking bold steps into bringing NAD+-boosting therapies to address clinical unmet needs.'
Central to this agreement is access to a robust body of scientific data, including findings from the NOPARK trial, the largest and most comprehensive clinical investigation of NAD+ augmentation in persons with early PD to date. The study was recently completed in June 2025 and is expected to be published by the end of 2025. NOPARK is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III clinical trial featuring 400 individuals with early-stage PD across 12 sites in Norway. Randomized to receive either 500 mg of nicotinamide riboside (Niagen) twice daily or placebo for 52 weeks, participants had follow-up assessments at five time points in a one-year period. The primary endpoint is the MDS-UPDRS total score, a gold standard measure of PD progression.
'This is an important milestone in our efforts to bring a potentially disease-modifying treatment for PD closer to patients,' says Professor Charalampos Tzoulis, who leads the NOPARK study and the Neuro-SysMed center, a Norwegian Center of Excellence for Clinical Treatment Research in Neurology at Haukeland University Hospital and the University of Bergen, Norway. 'We are fully committed to advancing knowledge and developing treatments that can truly benefit patients with PD and other neurodegenerative disorders. This agreement represents a significant step in that direction, and we are confident that Niagen Bioscience is well positioned to carry this important science forward - ultimately, for the benefit of patients globally.'
This agreement builds on a longstanding collaboration between Haukeland University Hospital's Dr. Charalampos Tzoulis and Niagen Bioscience's external research program, CERP. The first of several material transfer agreements (MTAs) dates to March 2018. Since then, independent research supported by CERP has helped catalyze over 300 research collaborations and more than 35 peer-reviewed clinical studies, including four landmark trials assessing the therapeutic potential of Niagen NR for PD: the phase I/IIa NADPARK study, published in Cell Metabolism, the phase I NR-SAFE study published in Nature Communications, the phase IIa N-DOSE (not yet published), and the phase III NOPARK study (not yet published).
In connection with this license agreement, the Company also established a wholly owned subsidiary, which represents a pivotal step in Niagen Bioscience's evolution from supplement science to regulated drug development in pursuit of therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases with high unmet needs.
For additional information on Niagen Bioscience visit www.niagenbioscience.com.
About Niagen Bioscience:
Niagen Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ: NAGE), formerly ChromaDex Corp., is the global leader in NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) science and healthy-aging research. As a trusted pioneer of NAD+ discoveries, Niagen Bioscience ™ is dedicated to advancing healthspan through precision science and innovative NAD+-boosting solutions.
The Niagen Bioscience team, composed of world-renowned scientists, works with independent investigators from esteemed universities and research institutions around the globe to uncover the full potential of NAD+. A vital coenzyme found in every cell of the human body, NAD+ declines with age and exposure to everyday lifestyle stressors. NAD+ depletion is a key contributor to age-related changes in health and vitality.
Distinguished by state-of-the-art laboratories, rigorous scientific and quality protocols, and collaborations with leading research institutions worldwide, Niagen Bioscience sets the gold standard for research, quality, and innovation. There's a better way to age.
Niagen Bioscience's robust patent portfolio protects NR and other NAD+ precursors. Niagen Bioscience maintains a website at www.niagenbioscience.com, where copies of press releases, news, and financial information are regularly published.
Forward Looking Statements:
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to statements regarding the development, regulatory pathway, potential approval, and commercialization of nicotinamide riboside as a treatment for Parkinson's disease; the formation and strategic objectives of NAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; the scope and exclusivity of licensing agreements; the potential outcomes and implications of the NOPARK clinical trial; and Niagen Bioscience's broader pharmaceutical ambitions.
Forward-looking statements reflect current expectations and projections about future events and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the outcomes and interpretation of the NOPARK study and other clinical trials; the ability to obtain regulatory approvals; the timing and success of preclinical and clinical development efforts; market acceptance of new therapies; intellectual property protection and defense; dependence on third parties; supply chain risks; the Company's financial condition and need for additional capital; and general market, economic, and geopolitical conditions.
In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as 'anticipates,' 'believes,' 'could,' 'estimates,' 'expects,' 'intends,' 'may,' 'plans,' 'seeks,' 'should,' 'will,' and similar expressions, as well as the negative of these terms. These statements speak only as of the date made and are based on current beliefs, assumptions, and information available to management.
Niagen Bioscience undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.