Item 1.

Business

 

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references to the “Company”, “ChromaDex”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to ChromaDex Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries.

 

Company Overview

 

ChromaDex is a science-based integrated nutraceutical company devoted to pioneering technologies that improve the way people age. ChromaDex engages with and supports many of the world's leading research institutions and scientists that are diligently working to understand the full potential of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide ("NAD") and its impact on human health.

 

NAD is an essential coenzyme and a key regulator of cellular metabolism. Best known for its role in cellular adenosine triphosphate ("ATP") production, NAD is now thought to play an important role in healthy aging. Many cellular functions related to health and healthy aging are sensitive to levels of locally available NAD and this represents an active area of research in the field of NAD.

 

NAD levels are not constant, and in humans, NAD levels have been shown to decline by more than 50% from young adulthood to middle age. NAD continues to decline as humans grow older. There are other causes of reduced NAD levels such as over-nutrition, alcohol consumption and a number of disease states. NAD may also be increased, including through calorie restriction and   exercise. Healthy aging, mitochondria and NAD continue to be areas of focus in the research community. In 2017, there were over 150 studies on NAD.

 

In 2013, ChromaDex commercialized NIAGEN® nicotinamide riboside ("NR"), a novel form of vitamin B3. Data from numerous animal studies, and confirmed in human clinical trials, show that NR is a highly efficient NAD precursor that significantly raises NAD levels. NIAGEN is safe for human consumption with no adverse side effects. NIAGEN® has twice been successfully reviewed under FDA's new dietary ingredient (“NDI”) notification program, and has also been successfully notified to the FDA as generally recognized as safe (“GRAS”). Animal studies of NIAGEN® have demonstrated a variety of outcomes ranging from increased NAD levels, increased cellular metabolism and energy production to improvements in insulin sensitivity. NIAGEN® is the trade name for our proprietary ingredient NR, and protected by patents to which we are the exclusive licensee.

 

ChromaDex is the world leader in the emerging NAD space. ChromaDex has over 140 partnerships with leading universities and research institutions around the world including the National Institutes of Health, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Scripps Research Institute and the Mayo Clinic. Other relationships are currently being developed.

 

Our scientific advisory board is led by Chairman Dr. Roger Kornberg, Nobel Laureate Stanford Professor, Dr. Charles Brenner, one of the world’s recognized experts in NAD and inventor of nicotinamide riboside, Dr. Rudi Tanzi, the co-chair of the department of neurology at Harvard Medical School and one of the world’s leading experts in food and nutrition, Dr. Bruce German, Chairman of food, nutrition and health at the University of California, Davis, Dr. Robert Beudeker, Vice President of Innovation, who leads the innovation program for human nutrition and health at DSM, and Dr. Matthew Roberts, Chief Technical and Quality Officer at Pharmavite, who has over 25 years of success at Abbott, Nestle and Nature's Bounty Co.

 

STRATEGIC SHIFT TO GLOBAL CONSUMER PRODUCT COMPANY

 

The acquisition in March 2017 of Healthspan Research LLC, a company that sold our TRU NIAGEN® product direct to consumers, marked our strategic shift from an ingredient and testing company to a global, consumer focused nutraceutical company. ChromaDex made the strategic decision to commercialize TRU NIAGEN® as a consumer brand, launching the consumer product in 2017.

 

 

In connection with our strategic decision to grow our global consumer brand, we have reduced the number of active NIAGEN® ingredient supply agreements. As expected, our ingredients segment net sales decreased 34% in 2017, from $16.8 million in 2016 to $11.1 million, which loss was offset by $5.5 million in net sales of TRU NIAGEN®.

 

We believe the global market size for TRU NIAGEN® is substantial. According to Orbis Research, Global Anti-Aging Market Research Report and Forecast 2017-2022, June 19, 2017, over $250 billion was spent on the business of youth worldwide in 2016 on looking, acting and feeling younger, which included skin care, cosmetic surgery, hair restoration, fitness, vitamins and supplements. According to the same report from Orbis Research, the worldwide anti-aging market is expected to grow at a compounded average growth rate ("CAGR") of 5.8% through 2021 to about $330 billion.

 

We began the international expansion of our TRU NIAGEN® brand with the launch in Hong Kong and Macau with our strategic partner, Customer G, in the third quarter of 2017, followed by the launch in Singapore in the first quarter of 2018.   We will continue to focus on obtaining additional regulatory approvals required to expand our marketing and distribution of our TRU NIAGEN® brand in new strategic international markets.

 

INGREDIENTS AND CORE STANDARDS AND CONTRACT SERVICES BUSINESS SEGMENTS

 

Through our ingredients business segment, we will continue to sell NIAGEN® in ingredient form to our remaining customers that we have supply contracts with. We will also continue to develop and commercialize proprietary ingredients other than NIAGEN®.

 

We are a leading provider of research and quality-control products and services to the natural products industry. Through our core standards and contract services segment, customers worldwide in the dietary supplement, food and beverage, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries use our products, which are small quantities of highly-characterized, research-grade, plant-based materials, to ensure the quality of their raw materials and finished products. We have conducted this core standards and contract services business since 1999.

 

We believe there is a growing need at both the manufacturing and government regulatory levels for reference standards to ensure that products that contain plants, plant extracts and naturally occurring compounds distributed to consumers are safe. We further believe that this need is driven by the perception at the consumer level regarding a lack of adequate quality controls related to certain functional food or dietary supplement based products, as well as increased effort on the part of the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) to assure Good Manufacturing Practices (“GMP”).

 

Our core standards and contract service business segment provides us with the opportunity to become aware of the results from research and screening activities performed on thousands of potential natural product candidates through our relationships with various universities and research institutions. By selecting the most promising ingredients leveraged from this market-based screening model, which is grounded by primary research performed through leading universities and institutions, followed by selective investments in further research and development, new proprietary ingredients can be identified and brought to various markets with a much lower investment cost and an increased chance of success.  Through our regulatory consulting operations, we also provide our clients in the food, supplement and pharmaceutical industries with effective scientific solutions to manage their potential health and regulatory risks.

 

 

On January 5, 2017, we opened a 10,000 square foot research and development laboratory in Longmont, Colorado. The new laboratory will support the discovery and development of molecules and compounds that add to our proprietary ingredient portfolio, while also allowing for the research service offerings.

 

For the fiscal years ended December 30, 2017, December 31, 2016 and January 2, 2016, our revenues from continuing operations were approximately $21.2 million, $21.7 million and $17.9 million, respectively. The following table summarizes the Company’s total sales for each of the business segments in the last 3 years. Please refer to Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional financial information for each of the business segments.

 

 

Company Background

 

On May 21, 2008, Cody Resources, Inc., a Nevada corporation and a public company, (“Cody”) entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among Cody, CDI Acquisition, Inc., a California corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of Cody (“Acquisition Sub”), and ChromaDex, Inc. (the “Merger”). Subsequent to the signing of the Merger Agreement, Cody merged with and into a Delaware corporation. On June 20, 2008, Cody amended its articles of incorporation to change its name to ChromaDex Corporation. ChromaDex Corporation was traded on the Over the Counter market under the symbol "CDXC." On April 25, 2016, ChromaDex Corporation became listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol "CDXC."

 

ChromaDex, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of ChromaDex Corporation, was originally formed as a California corporation on February 19, 2000. On April 23, 2003, ChromaDex Inc. acquired the research and development group of a competing natural product company, Napro Biotherapeutics, located in Boulder, Colorado. The assets acquired in this transaction were placed in a newly-formed, wholly-owned subsidiary of ChromaDex Inc. named ChromaDex Analytics, Inc., a Nevada corporation.

 

On December 3, 2012, ChromaDex, Inc. acquired Spherix Consulting Inc., a scientific and regulatory consulting company located in the greater Washington D.C. area and Spherix became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ChromaDex, Inc. On December 31, 2016, Spherix Consulting, Inc. merged into ChromaDex, Inc. and subsequently was dissolved. On March 12, 2017, ChromaDex Corporation acquired Healthspan Research LLC, a consumer product company offering TRU NIAGEN® branded products. This marked the strategic shift to become a fully integrated nutraceutical Company. On September 5, 2017, the Company completed the sale of its operating assets that were used with the Company's quality verification program testing and analytical chemistry business for food and food related products to Covance Laboratories Inc.

 

Business Market

 

According to Orbis Research, Global Anti-Aging Market Research Report and Forecast 2017-2022, June 19, 2017, over $250 billion was spent on the business of youth worldwide in 2016 on looking, acting and feeling younger, which included skin care, cosmetic surgery, hair restoration, fitness, vitamins and supplements. According to the same report from Orbis Research, the worldwide anti-aging market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% through 2021 to about $330 billion. According to the data from Euromonitor International, the worldwide market for vitamins and supplements was approximately $91 billion in 2016, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% to about $127 billion in 2022.

 

 

 

Our business model is to sell TRU NIAGEN® to consumers worldwide. As a world leader in the emerging NAD space and the science of aging, we will continue to seek to discover and enhance patented technology and evolve our branded TRU NIAGEN® products to improve health by safely raising NAD levels. The TRU NIAGEN® brand is built on scientific evidence, trust and the direct impact to our consumers aging better. The best way to be trusted as a brand is to be trustworthy as a company.

 

We intend to capture the worldwide NAD-related healthy aging market by entering into new international markets. We will utilize our proprietary ecommerce platforms, and the ecommerce and brick and mortar platforms of strategic regional and local partners. Our United States ("U.S.") based business will continue to support our global operations, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We expect to continue to supply our international operations with finished products manufactured in the U.S, and to continue to provide all our marketing materials and know-how to our international strategic partners.

 

INGREDIENTS SEGMENT

 

We will also continue to identify, acquire, reduce-to-practice, and commercialize other innovative new proprietary ingredients and technologies, with an initial industry focus on the dietary supplement, food, beverage, skin care and pharmaceutical markets. We have an experienced team that is highly capable of advancing products through development into commercialization with the required regulatory approval, safety, toxicology, clinical trials, supply chain management, manufacturing, and ultimately either directly selling the products or licensing to third parties. Our clinical trials will potentially reinforce the health benefits that may be associated with our proprietary ingredients, improve the quality or specificity of FDA approved claim we can make with respect to these health benefits, and lead us toward pharmaceutical applications for our proprietary ingredients.

 

 

 

 

In addition, through regulatory consulting operations, we provide product regulatory approval and scientific advisory services to our clients in the food, supplement and pharmaceutical industries with effective solutions to manage potential health and regulatory risks.

 

We will continue to expand our core standards and contract services business and, more importantly, capitalize on additional opportunities in product development and commercialization of various kinds of intellectual property that we have largely discovered and acquired through the sales process associated with this segment.

 

Overview of our Products and Services

 

Current products   and services provided are as follows:

 

CONSUMER PRODUCTS

 

 

INGREDIENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CORE STANDARDS AND CONTRACT SERVICES

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sales and Marketing Strategy

 

For our consumer products segment, we employ a variety of strategies to drive sales and consumer awareness of TRU NIAGEN®, including social media and internet advertising, managing websites, influencers, paid search, distribution of research publications and press releases.

 

For our ingredients segment and core standards and contract services segment, our strategy is based on a direct, technically-oriented model. We recruit and hire sales and marketing staff with appropriate commercial and scientific backgrounds. Our sales staff performs sales duties by using combinations of telemarketing, e-mail, tradeshows and customer visits. The inside sales portion of the organization also has customer service responsibilities. All sales and marking staff are compensated based on salary and performance-based bonus. Our regulatory consulting operations, generates scientific and regulatory consulting revenue from an existing well-established list of Fortune 1000 customers and referrals.

 

 

USA and Canada:

 

For our consumer products segment, we are distributing our TRU NIAGEN® products direct to consumers through our propriety ecommerce platform TRUNIAGEN.com, Amazon Prime and Amazon marketplace. Currently and for the near-term, we do not plan to sell TRU NIAGEN® to brick and mortar retailers in the US and Canada.

 

For our ingredients segment and core standards and contract services segment, w e intend to continue to use a direct marketing approach in the U.S. and Canada to promote our products and services.

 

International:

 

For our consumer products segment, we will be utilizing strategic partners on a regional or local country basis to expand our distribution of TRU NIAGEN® products. Our strategic partnerships could include brick and mortar and/or ecommerce channels. We also are evaluating strategic joint ventures to rapidly expand our distribution in regions like Asia. We began our international expansion of TRU NIAGEN® products with the successful launch in Hong Kong and Macau with our strategic partner, Customer G, in the third quarter of 2017, followed by the launch in Singapore in the first quarter of 2018.

 

For our ingredients segment, most of our customers are based currently in U.S. We are looking to expand into international markets through our international business partners.

 

For our core standards contract services segment,   we use international distributors to market and sell to several foreign countries or markets. The use of distributors in some international markets has proven to be more effective than direct sales.

For our regulatory consulting operations, we engage on consulting projects for customers all over the world, including Europe, South America, and Asia. Consulting revenues are generated from an existing well-established list of Fortune 1000 customers and referrals.

 

Government Regulation

 

Some of our operations are subject to regulation by various United States federal agencies and similar state and international agencies, including the FDA, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the Department of Commerce, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture and other state and international agencies. These regulators govern a wide variety of production activities, from design and development to labeling, manufacturing, handling, selling and distributing of products. From time to time, federal, state and international legislation is enacted that may have the effect of materially increasing the cost of doing business or limiting or expanding our permissible activities. We cannot predict whether or when potential legislation or regulations will be enacted, and, if enacted, the effect of such legislation, regulation, implementation, or any implemented regulations or supervisory policies would have on our financial condition or results of operations. In addition, the outcome of any litigation, investigations or enforcement actions initiated by state or federal authorities could result in changes to our operations being necessary and in increased compliance costs.

 

U.S. FDA Regulation

 

In the United States dietary supplements and food are subject to FDA regulations. For example, the FDA’s final rule on GMPs for dietary supplements published in June 2007 requires companies to evaluate products for identity, strength, purity and composition. These regulations in some cases, particularly for new ingredients, require a notification that must be submitted to the FDA along with evidence of safety. In addition, depending on the type of product, whether a dietary supplement, cosmetic, food, or pharmaceutical, the FDA, under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or (the "FDCA"), can regulate:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FDCA has been amended several times with respect to dietary supplements, most notably by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (“DSHEA”). DSHEA established a new framework for governing the composition and labeling of dietary supplements. Generally, under DSHEA, dietary ingredients that were marketed in the United States before October 15, 1994 may be used in dietary supplements without notifying the FDA. However, and NDI (a dietary ingredient that was not marketed in the United States before October 15, 1994) is subject to NDI notification that must be submitted to the FDA unless the ingredient has previously been “present in the food supply as an article used for food” without being “chemically altered.” An NDI notification must provide the FDA with evidence of a “history of use or other evidence of safety” establishing that the use of the dietary ingredient “will reasonably be expected to be safe.” An NDI notification must be submitted to the FDA at least 75 days before the initial marketing of the NDI. There can be no assurance that the FDA will accept the evidence of safety for any NDIs that we may want to commercialize, and the FDA’s refusal to accept such evidence could prevent the marketing of such dietary ingredients. The FDA is in the process of developing guidance for the industry that will aim to clarify the FDA’s interpretation of the NDI notification requirements, and this guidance may raise new and significant regulatory barriers for NDIs.

 

For any new ingredient developed by us to be used in conventional food or beverage products in the United States, the product either must be approved by the FDA as a food additive pursuant to a food additive petition ("FAP") or be generally recognized as safe ("GRAS"). The FDA does not have to approve a company’s determination that an ingredient is GRAS. However, a company can notify the FDA of its determination. There can be no assurance that the FDA will approve any FAP for any ingredient that we may want to commercialize, or agree with our determination that an ingredient is GRAS, either of which could prevent the marketing of such ingredient.

 

U.S. Advertising Regulations

 

In addition to FDA regulations, the FTC regulates the advertising of dietary supplements, foods, cosmetics, and over-the-counter ("OTC"), drugs. In recent years, the FTC has instituted numerous enforcement actions against dietary supplement companies for failure to adequately substantiate claims made in advertising or for the use of false or misleading advertising claims. These enforcement actions have often resulted in consent decrees and the payment of civil penalties, restitution, or both, by the companies involved. We may be subject to regulation under various state and local laws that include provisions governing, among other things, the formulation, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, advertising and distribution of dietary supplements, foods, cosmetics and OTC drugs.

 

In addition, The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus reviews national advertising for truthfulness and accuracy. The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus uses a form of alternative dispute resolution, working closely with in-house counsel, marketing executives, research and development departments and outside consultants to decide whether claims have been substantiated.

 

International Regulations

 

Our international sales for the consumer products segment and ingredients segment are subject to foreign government regulations, which vary substantially from country to country. The time required to obtain approval by a foreign country may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA approval, and the requirements may differ. In addition, the export by us of certain of our products that have not yet been cleared or approved for domestic distribution may be subject to FDA export restrictions. We may be unable to obtain on a timely basis, if at all, any foreign government or United States export approvals necessary for the marketing of our products abroad.

 

 

Regulation in Europe is exercised primarily through the European Union, which regulates the combined market of each of its member states. Other countries, such as Switzerland, have voluntarily adopted laws and regulations that mirror those of the European Union with respect to dietary ingredients.

 

Major Customers

 

Major customers who accounted for more than 10% of the Company’s total sales from continuing operations were as follows:

 

	Years Ended
Major Customers	2017	2016	2015
Customer G - Related Party	19.4 %	*	*
Customer D	10.2 %	11.0 %	*
Customer C	*	23.9 %	*
Customer B	*	*	13.6 %
* Represents less than 10%.

 

Generally, we do not depend upon a single customer, or a few customers, and the loss of any one or more would not have a material adverse effect on the Company. However, due to the volume of consumer products and ingredients we are selling in relation to the overall Company’s sales, we do expect that a few of our customers at times may account for more than 10% of the Company’s sales.

 

Competitive Business Conditions

 

For our consumer products segment, we are in direct competition with some of our former and current ingredients segment customers that use NIAGEN® in the products. We will face reduced competition in the near term as we have reduced the number of NIAGEN® ingredient supply agreements to three as of March 2018.

 

For our ingredients segment, we face little direct competition as the ingredients we offer, such as NIAGEN® and pTeroPure® are backed by intellectual properties exclusively licensed to us. We, however, face strong indirect competition from other ingredient suppliers who may supply alternative ingredients that may have similar characteristics compared to the ingredients we offer. Below is a list of some of the competitors for our ingredients segment.

 

Ingredients Business Segment Competitors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the core standards and contract services segment, we face competition within the standardization and quality testing niche of the natural products market. Below is a current list of certain competitors. These competitors have already developed reference standards or contract services or are currently taking steps to develop botanical standards or contract services. Of the competitors listed, some currently sell fine chemicals, which, by default, are sometimes used as reference standards, and others are closely aligned with our market niche to reduce any barriers to entry if these companies wish to compete.

 

Core Standards and Contract Services Segment Competitors

 

 

 

 

 

For regulatory consulting operations, there are numerous competitors, including some that are much larger companies with more resources. The success in winning and retaining clients is heavily dependent on the efforts and reputation of our consultants. We believe the barriers to entry areas of our consulting expertise are low.

 

Patents, Trademarks, Licenses, Franchises, Concessions, Royalty Agreements or Labor Contracts, Including Duration

 

We currently protect our intellectual property through patents, trademarks, designs and copyrights on our products and services. Our business strategy is to use the intellectual property harnessed from our core standards and contract services segment as the basis for providing new proprietary ingredients to our customers. Our strategy is to develop these proprietary ingredients on our own as well as to license our intellectual property to companies who will commercialize it. We anticipate that the net result will be a long-term flow of intellectual property milestone and royalty payments to us.

 

The following table sets forth our existing patents and those to which we have licensed rights:

 

 

 

Manufacturing

 

We currently utilize third-party manufacturers to produce and supply the dietary supplements, ingredients, products, and services. Following the receipt of products or product components from third-party manufacturers, we currently inspect products, as needed. We expect to reserve the right to inspect and ensure conformance of each product and product component to our specifications. We will also consider manufacturing certain products or product components internally, if our capacity permits, when demand or quality requirements make it appropriate to do so.

 

 

We intend to work with manufacturing companies that can meet the standards imposed by the FDA, the International Organization for Standardization and the quality standards that we will require for our own internal policies and procedures. We expect to monitor and manage supplier performance through a corrective action program developed by us. We believe these manufacturing relationships can minimize our capital investment, help control costs, and allow us to compete with larger volume manufacturers of dietary supplements, phytochemicals and ingredients.

 

Sources and Availability of Raw Materials

 

For all three business segments, we believe that we have identified reliable sources and suppliers of ingredients, chemicals, phytochemicals and reference materials that will provide products in compliance with our guidelines.

 

Research and Development

 

We have completed the first human clinical trial on our proprietary ingredient NR and the results demonstrated that a single dose of NR resulted in statistically significant increases in the co-enzyme NAD+ in healthy human volunteers. In addition, NR was also found to be safe as no adverse events were observed.   In 2015, NR was recognized by the FDA as a “New Dietary Ingredient.” NR was also “Generally Recognized as Safe” by an independent panel of expert toxicologists and in August 2016, the FDA issued a GRAS No Objection Letter.

 

We are currently completing a second human clinical trial on NR which evaluated the effect of repeated doses of NIAGEN® on NAD+ metabolite concentrations in blood, urine and muscle in healthy adults. This study evaluated the impacts of three dose levels of NIAGEN® compared to a placebo. One quarter of subjects received the low dose of NIAGEN® (100 mg), one quarter received the moderate dose of NIAGEN® (300 mg), one quarter received the higher dose of NIAGEN® (1,000 mg) and one quarter received the placebo. Preliminary results show that NAD levels rose in response to the dose of NIAGEN® and the elevated blood NAD levels were sustained throughout the 8-week treatment period.

 

We have also been working closely with the National Institute of Health under a collaborative agreement on a therapeutic indication for NR as a treatment of Cockayne Syndrome, a rare pediatric orphan disease.

 

Through our research and development laboratory in Longmont, Colorado, we intend to manufacture at a process scale for products that we are planning to take to market as well as explore cost saving processes for existing products.

 

We plan to utilize our expertise in natural products to license and develop new intellectual property that can be sold to clients in our target industries.

 

Research and development costs for the fiscal years ended December 30, 2017, December 31, 2016 and January 2, 2016 were approximately $4.0 million, $2.5 million and $0.9 million, respectively. Please refer to Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for research and development costs for each of the business segments for the last three fiscal years.

 

Environmental Compliance

 

We will incur significant expense in complying with GMPs and safe handling and disposal of materials used in our research and manufacturing activities. We do not anticipate incurring additional material expense to comply with federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations.

 

 

Working Capital

 

The Company’s working capital at the end of years 2017 and 2016 was approximately $7.4 million and $7.8 million, respectively. The Company measures working capital by adding trade receivables and inventories, and subtracting accounts payable. Most of the working capital is consumed by our consumer products segment and ingredients segment as the operations require a large amount of inventory to be on hand. As the consumer products segment and ingredients segment grow, more working capital will likely be needed to support the operations.

 

Backlog Orders

 

For our consumer products segment where we ship products internationally to a distributor, we may have a backlog from time to time as the production of TRU NIAGEN® finished bottles require up to three months lead time by our third-party contract manufacturers. As of December 30, 2017, we did not have any backlog orders from the distributor as all orders received have been shipped. For products that are directly shipped to consumers, we have minimal backlog orders as we carry inventory on hand to ship upon the receipt of order.

 

For our ingredients segment, we also have minimal backlog orders as we carry inventory on hand for most of the products we offer and we ship upon the receipt of customer’s order.

 

For our core standards and contract services segment, we normally have a small backlog of orders for reference standards. These orders amount to approximately $25,000 or less. Because we list over 1,800 phytochemicals and 400 botanical reference materials in our catalog, we may not always have the items in stock at the time of customers’ orders. These backlog orders are normally fulfilled within 2 to 3 months.

 

Facilities

 

For information on our facilities, see “Properties” in Item 2 of this Form 10-K.

 

Employees

 

As of December 30, 2017, ChromaDex (including Healthspan Research LLC and ChromaDex Analytics, Inc.) had 74 employees, 71 of whom were full-time and three of whom were part-time. We consider our relationships with our employees to be satisfactory. None of our employees is covered by a collective bargaining agreement.

 

Financial Information about Geographic Areas

 

Please refer to Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for financial information about geographic areas.

 

Available Information

 

Our Internet website address is  www.chromadex.com.  We make available free of charge on our website our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practical after we file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. This information is also available in print to any shareholder who requests it, with any such requests addressed to ChromaDex Corporation, 10005 Muirlands Blvd. Ste G, Irvine, CA 92618. Certain of these documents may also be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains an Internet website that contains reports, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at  www.sec.gov.  We also make available free of charge on our website our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and the Charters of our Audit Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors.