Mastix Medica Introduces RenaGum™ - The First Medical Food Chewing Gum
Hunt Valley, MD (PRWEB) August 08, 2013 -- Mastix Medica, an innovative specialty manufacturer of dietary supplements and functional foods, has introduced RenaGum™, a novel medical food that helps patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) maintain normal phosphate levels. RenaGum™ is specially formulated with chitosan, a well-known dietary, medical and environmental binding agent. Clinical studies show that chitosan released from chewing gum is an effective way to help maintain normal serum phosphate levels in CKD patients. RenaGum™ is made using natural ingredients, a non-allergenic chitosan from a vegetable source, not from shellfish, and is also Kosher certified. As a medical food product, RenaGum™ needs to be used under the supervision of a physician.
CKD is a growing health problem in the United States, with at least 20 million people in various stages of CKD including about 500,000 people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring hemodialysis. The two main causes of CKD are diabetes and high blood pressure accounting for up to 2/3 of all CKD cases. In people with CKD, and especially people with ESRD, one of the most important co-existing disorders is caused by increased levels of phosphorus (hyperphosphatemia) in the body.
Elevated serum phosphate levels are significantly associated with cardiovascular calcification and increased cardiac mortality. People with CKD and ESRD need to watch what they eat and drink and may take phosphate binder drugs that their doctor prescribes. These phosphate binder drugs are taken by patients during meals to prevent the absorption of phosphate in the digestive system from the food that is consumed.
“We are excited that Mastix Medica is introducing its first proprietary product, RenaGum™, to help people with CKD and ESRD maintain healthy phosphate levels,” commented Robert Estey, CEO of Mastix Medica. “RenaGum™ is a complimentary medical food that is chewed after a meal. It is designed to work with and complement a patient’s prescribed binder drugs at a different time and in a different way,” he continued. “RenaGum™ is not a replacement for a patient’s prescribed binder drugs. When the gum is chewed, the chitosan combines with phosphate found in saliva and then in the digestive tract after the saliva is swallowed,” Estey stated. “We expect RenaGum™ to become an integral component of the dietary management of kidney disease in patients with CKD and ESRD. Patients also like RenaGum™ because, as a chewing gum, it does not add to the heavy pill burden they already take with their meals,” concluded Mr. Estey.
More information about RenaGum™ can be found at http://www.renagum.com.
About Medical Foods
A Medical Food is an FDA-regulated product defined by Congress as part of the Orphan Drug Act. A Medical Food is specially formulated to be administered orally under the supervision of a physician and is intended for the specific dietary management of a disease or condition for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation. Medical Foods have clinical studies supporting their use for specific conditions due to nutritional imbalances or deficiencies. Medical Foods are made with ingredients that are Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS), the highest FDA standard of safety given to foods.
About Mastix Medica
Mastix Medica is a specialty manufacturer with expertise in unique tableted dosage forms like tableted chewing gum, lozenges and chewable tablets. Mastix Medica has a proprietary tableted gum manufacturing process that is unique in the industry. With a history in candy manufacturing, Mastix Medica has broad custom product development capabilities that have expanded into functional foods and dietary supplements, with particular expertise in hard to formulate tablet products, direct compression chewing gum and taste masking.
Robert Estey, Mastix Medica, http://www.mastixmedica.com, +1 410-316-1080 100, [email protected]
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