Business View Magazine | December 2018

120 121 ters on a commitment to research and a mission to serve the public health. To date, the company has published more than 820 scientific papers and continually underwrites clinical studies on its products. Studies have proven Wakunaga’s products to enhance immune function, protect cells from free radical damage, lower cholesterol, support overall heart health, help balance, pro- tect, and restore intestinal function, slow plaque formation, and reduce blood pressure in adults with hypertension, offering hope to those who don’t respond well to prescription medications or would prefer a natural therapy. The company also sponsors, and participates in, industry conventions and conferences. “In 1991, we had the first International Garlic Symposium,” Nomura notes. “Researchers from all over the world gathered in one place to discuss garlic. Since then, every five years, we have had an In- ternational Garlic Symposium; the last time was 2014, here in California. Next year, we will have it Hiroshima, where our Japanese plant is located. There are also the Natural Products Expo conven- tions which take place every March in Anaheim, CA, and on the East Coast in September. On those occasions, we talk about new clinical studies, we exchange opinions, and we discuss new market- ing tools and how we can increase our sales.” Currently, Wakunaga controls over 60 percent of the U.S. garlic supplement market for its Kyo- lic product, and going forward, Nomura says he would like to double the company’s sales within the next five years. Part of that strategy, he ex- plains, will depend on being able to enter some more domestic markets, such as the military, as well as selling more of its products abroad. “In PREFERRED VENDOR n PCI Packaging Containers Inc. www.pcicalifornia.com WAKUNAGA OF AMERICA Europe, we are selling in 12 countries, but, unfor- tunately, we are not selling in Germany, France, or Italy, the first, second, and third biggest mar- kets, because there is some difficulty in entering those countries.” In order to get around those restrictions, Wakunaga has set up its own German company, selling Kyolic as a medicine there. Also, in Europe, there is a category called THMP- Tra- ditional Herbal Medicinal Products. “In that cat- egory, we applied in July 2017. And hopefully, we can get the approval next February or March and we will launch next September. That’s our biggest project, now.” “At the core of everything we do, we are looking to contribute to the health and wellbeing of the world’s citizens,” says Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Michael Modjes- ki. “There’s a lot of authenticity throughout the organization in how we develop and market our products and stand behind them, including our control of the complete supply chain in terms of organically grown and harvested garlic used in our products. It does take about four years to go through that cycle from seed to shelf. In that process there’s a consistent application of manu- facturing and checking–over 250 quality checks that are applied, so there’s very tight inspection and quality control in everything that we do.” “Our facilities are GMP (Good Manufac- turing Practice)-certified, and we are an ISO 9001:2015-certified facility. So there’s a lot of focus and emphasis on providing a quality prod- uct all the way from soil to shelf.When you look back 45 years since Wakunaga of America has been in the marketplace here in the U.S., a lot of things have changed in terms of scientific instru- mentation and the ability to measure the effect of various attributes. As technology evolves and detection becomes more clear, we’re able to con- tinue to seek out the efficacies of our products and how they interact with humans to contribute to their health.” And as founding partners, Manji Wakunaga and Eugene Schnell, once surmised–garlic is still the key.