speciality chemicals
Specialty chemicals (also called specialties or effect chemicals) are particular chemical products that provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agri ...
The company was founded in 1999 by Dr. Sobhi Basheer at the Naiot Venture Accelerator that markets products created from
lipids
Lipids are a broad group of organic compounds which include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins Vitamin A, A, Vitamin D, D, Vitamin E, E and Vitamin K, K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The fu ...
from raw sources like fish and plants as
food ingredient
In a general sense, an ingredient is a substance which forms part of a mixture. In cooking, recipes specify which ingredients are used to prepare a dish, and the term may also refer to a specific food item in relation to its use in different re ...
s,
dietary supplements
A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement a person's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources, or that are synthetic ...
, and
medical food
Medical food is food that is specially formulated and intended for the dietary management of a disease that has distinctive nutritional needs that cannot be met by normal diet alone. In the United States, it was defined in the Food and Drug Admin ...
products for adults, children, and infants. Index to whole prospectus i here /ref> As of 2013 it was the second biggest company in the global krill oil market with a 30% market share, and was emphasizing its potential for growth in the Chinese market for infant nutrition with its lipid-based InFat food ingredient.
It began selling medical food products in the US through its subsidiary, Vaya Pharma, in 2011.
As of 2013 Enzymotec had raised $17 million and was selling products globally, and in the summer of 2013 it filed a prospectus for its
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...
on NASDAQ, seeking to raise around $75M; the IPO was held in October and raised $63M.
In 2014 Enzymotec settled litigation with Canada-based Neptune Technologies & Bioressources over patents held by Neptune related to phospholipids like
omega-3 oil
Omega−3 fatty acids, also called omega−3 oils, ω−3 fatty acids or ''n''−3 fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) characterized by the presence of a double bond three atoms away from the terminal methyl group in their c ...
extracted from krill oil.
In 2015 shareholders filed a class action
securities fraud
Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information.Frutarom, which had built a minority position in the firm, announced on 29 Oct 2017 that it would acquire Enzymotec's remaining equity for approximately $168 million. After the transaction completed on 11 Jan 2018, Enzymotec delisted from the NASDAQ.