The roots of Herbanext date back to 1997 when the company’s founder, Mr. Philip Cruz, successfully cultivated in commercial scale the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum. In 2001, Herbanext was formally established as a health and wellness company dedicated to the manufacture of ganoderma-based food supplements. From this single product focus, the company diversified into a variety of local medicinal plants taking advantage of the country’s extensive biodiversity. In 2011, the company established the country’s first extraction and spray-drying facility for medicinal plants and shortly pioneered the production of pharmaceutical-grade extracts.
Currently, Herbanext produces over 15 different kinds of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of important Philippine medicinal plant suitable for food, drug, and cosmetic use, such as banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa), mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), luyang dilaw (Curcuma longa), takip kuhol (Centella asiatica), tawa-tawa (Euphorbia hirta), sambong (Blumea balsamifera), and malunggay (Moringa oleifera). These extracts are standardized for key phytochemical markers to ensure of their functional or therapeutic benefits.
Herbanext’s manufacturing capability include tablets, capsules, concentrates/syrups, teas, instant drink mix, jams, extruded cereals, spray-dried extracts, essential oils, and various topical wellness products. It is a licensed manufacturer for Food, Drug, and Cosmetics, and operates a 3,500 m2 FDA-accredited manufacturing plant near Bacolod City. The company manufactures products under its own brand (www.dailyapplestore.com) and also produces private labels for different companies mainly in the Visayas and Mindanao.
A research-oriented company, Herbanext has an advance QC, R&D, and pilot-testing laboratories and is an active proponent of the Drug Discovery and Health Products Program of the Department of Science and Technology. The company is vertically integrated and operates its own organically-certified farms within 15 minutes distance from its Plant. Its certifications include HACCP (TÜV NORD), cGMP (Philippine FDA), Organic (OCCP), and Halal (IDCP).