Cholesterol, a derivative of cyclopentane polyhydrophenanthrene, is the main steroid compound in mammals. Most of the traditional cholesterol comes from animal brainstem and lanolin, which is of animal origin and has the risk of carrying animal viruses. Biopharma PEG innovatively uses plant sterols as starting materials to prepare plant-derived cholesterol (CAS NO.: 57-88-5) through biological fermentation and green synthesis, eliminating the generation and carrying of viruses from the source.

Cholesterol has a wide range of uses, and can be used as cosmetic raw materials, high-end pharmaceutical excipients, starting materials for the synthesis of vitamin D3, feed additives, and used in various industries of pharmaceutical and chemical production.

Cholesterol is one of the key functional excipients of lipid nanoparticles (LNP). Cholesterol can adjust the integrity and stiffness of lipid membranes and enhance the stability of lipid nanoparticles, while the morphology of cholesterol derivatives can affect the delivery efficiency and biodistribution of lipid nanoparticles, as well as the morphology of lipid nanoparticles. With the rapid development of related research, lipid-based drug delivery systems are becoming more and more important in a wider range of therapeutic areas, including infectious disease vaccines, cancer immunotherapy, gene editing therapy, etc.

Most of the cholesterol currently available on the market is extracted from animal brains and lanolin, all of which are derived from animals.

Plant-derived cholesterol eliminates people's concerns about the risk of animal-derived cholesterol carrying animal viruses, and broadens its use in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and health food industries. For example, plant-derived cholesterol can be used as high-end pharmaceutical excipients in small molecule liposome drugs, Nucleic acid drugs, MNA vaccines and protein drugs. In addition, plant-derived cholesterol can also be used in mid-to-high-end cosmetics and in the preparation of plant-derived vitamin D3 series products, etc.

According to relevant statistics, the global annual demand for NF-grade cholesterol for the production of vitamin D3 is about 300 tons, the amount of F-grade cholesterol used in medicine, cosmetics and other fields is about 50 tons, and the amount of feed-grade cholesterol is about 400 tons. The market demand is large.

Biopharma PEG is capable of mass production of high-purity plant-derived cholesterol (CAS NO.: 57-88-5). It can supply high-quality cholesterol (plant-derived) from lab to large scale to meet customers’ research and drug development needs.