Hello, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to today's virtual non-deal roadshow. My name is Julia Perron, a virtual event moderator here at Renmark Financial Communications. On behalf of our team, we'd like to thank everyone in San Francisco and surrounding areas for joining us today for the presentation of ChromaDex Corp, trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol CDXC. Presenting today is Rob Fried, Chief Executive Officer, and Brianna Gerber, Chief Financial Officer. The presentation will last approximately 20-25 minutes, and will be followed by a formal question and answer session, for which you can participate in using the chat box on the top right-hand corner of your screen. With that, I will hand it over to Rob.
Thank you, Julia. Hi, Brianna. Thank you, everyone, for joining. I think you're joining this call and getting to know ChromaDex at a very good time, since we're just coming out of our early stage, formative, developmental years, and now establishing ourselves very much as a firm, reliable business. We've overcome a lot of the early stage obstacles that early stage companies experience, and now I think we're in a very, very good place. Future looks very bright for us. I wonder if there's a way for me to find out how many of the attendees are familiar with the story already, because I could give a more abbreviated version of the presentation, if that's the case. Is there a way to do that, Julia?
If the watchers would like to write in the chat, if they're familiar or not, I can let you know the response.
Okay. Well, I'll get started, and you can text me and let me know what people say.
Sounds good.
ChromaDex is the global authority on something called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, NAD, which is a coenzyme found in all living cells, plant and animal, and is involved in virtually every metabolic process within the cell, from energy metabolism to repairing of the cell. Every version of repairing the cell, whether it's rejecting a virus, repelling a virus, fixing a gene break or mutation, actual physical damage, oxidative stress, or even what they call apoptosis, the process of killing itself if it's too damaged. All these processes are involved with NAD, and NAD is in abundance when we are young or when the cell is healthy, and is in decline as we age, or when the cell is under some sort of metabolic stress. Virtually every indication associated with growing old is also associated with a decline in NAD levels.
ChromaDex has over 80 patents around NAD, but our flagship product is an ingredient called nicotinamide riboside chloride, which to date is the best, most efficient, safest, most researched, and most legal form of NAD precursor. So if you take nicotinamide riboside, even as a vitamin, which is how we sell it, it efficiently elevates NAD levels in your cells within a couple of hours, and does so extremely safely. As I said, NAD declines as we age. It begins to decline somewhere in our twenties, maybe early thirties. We think that maybe there's half as much NAD in an average cell by the time you're in your forties, and then half again by the time you're in your sixties. And it's involved in the processes of making energy and the processes of repairing cell damage.
So the World Health Organization defines aging as the accumulation of damage at the cellular and molecular level. So all aging is, is damage, but the diminished ability to repair that damage. So as you lose NAD, you lose your ability to repair damage or prevent damage, and therefore you age. As I said, this company is in a very healthy place right now. Brianna will go through the financials in greater detail, but when we started here, when we joined this company little over six years ago, and we've been the CEO about five and a half years, I've been... it, the mission was to create a consumer brand out of an ingredient that the company controlled, the ingredient nicotinamide riboside. So there were no sales in 2017 of Tru Niagen.
Total company sales for the year of 2023 will be well in excess of $80 million. Almost all of that is on Niagen, the ingredient, or Tru Niagen, the consumer product. It's been a steady, ascent and climb as a consumer brand. We also supply it to certain very, very selected, other brands in the space. As I said, we have many patents and protections around nicotinamide riboside and other precursors as well. We have a very strong partnership in Asia with a company called Watsons, which is the largest global, beauty and healthcare retail chain in the world. They sell it extremely well right now in Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau. Some cross-border sales into China and some retail sales in the UK.... Most of our business, however, is e-commerce in the US, both Amazon and our own website, truniagen.com.
You know, when you're an ingredient company and you develop a novel ingredient, which we did with nicotinamide riboside, it wasn't out there in the market as a vitamin or any other product before ChromaDex. When a research institution calls you up and says, "At our expense, we'd like to do a study on your ingredient to indicate whether or not it's effective for a disease state or something else," that's generally a good call, because if they yield a good result, then you could market that and claim that your ingredient is valuable. If it happens five or 10 times, it's a blockbuster ingredient, and to date, in the last little over 10 years, we've signed over 300 of those agreements with the most prestigious research organizations in the world. There's really. It's really unprecedented.
We've had over 30 published, peer-reviewed, clinical, human clinical studies, high impact factors, proving the efficacy of nicotinamide riboside, not only its safety, but its ability to prove NAD, as well as certain indications, disease indications. It's very far along in certain studies. It's a very special ingredient. NAD is special, Tru Niagen is special, and there's much research. There's over 100 preclinical studies published as well. As I said, I joined the company in 2017, became the CEO in the middle of 2018, and the mission was to develop a consumer brand called Tru Niagen.
The company already had some patent portfolios and had already begun to get approvals around the world to sell nicotinamide riboside, but the root of the company is as a testing company, a standards testing company, an analytical testing company, and a consulting company for other ingredient companies, how to get approvals. So ChromaDex, at its core, is the standard bearer for quality in the ingredient space, in the dietary supplement space. It is widely respected among companies in the dietary supplement space. We've recently heard from the former head of dietary supplements at the NIH, as well as the head of dietary supplements at the FDA, that they consider ChromaDex the gold standard in the space. We do everything by the book. We get regulatory approvals, we honor the rules, we honor the laws, we have multiple steps of quality.
If it says ChromaDex, if it says Tru Niagen, you can completely trust it. And I hate to say, since I'm in this business and I've really been exposed to the way companies operate in this space, at this point, people ask me all the time what supplements you take. I trust no company except for ChromaDex. I hate to say it, but it's true. Our scientific advisory board is a very distinguished panel of scientists and experts. Two of them have Nobel Prizes, Roger Kornberg and Sir John Walker. Both of them are doing research on NAD and nicotinamide riboside and earned their Nobel Prizes in the space. Dr. Rudy Tanzi is the co-head of neurology at Harvard. He is doing two studies right now on nicotinamide riboside, a long-haul COVID study, as well as a mild cognitive impairment study. Dr.
Charles Brenner, who is presently at City of Hope, is the inventor of nicotinamide riboside. When he was at Dartmouth, he was the one that discovered nicotinamide riboside elevates NAD. Dr. Bruce German is the world's leading expert on milk. Nicotinamide riboside is found in very trace amounts in milk. It is absolutely the elixir of life. Brunie Felding is one of the leading cancer researchers at Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Vilhelm Bohr recently retired as one of the lead researchers at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, and has conducted and is conducting many studies on advanced aging diseases. There's a disease called Cockayne syndrome, where children age so rapidly, they often die of old age by the time they're 12 or 13. Dr. Bohr replicated that study in mice and successfully treated them with Tru Niagen.
He is also doing studies on other age-related orphan diseases on behalf of the company. Dr. David Katz is a practicing physician, formerly at Yale, and has been a powerful spokesperson for the company. The reason we have all those studies is what I said, when you get a phone call from a Harvard or a Chicago or Stanford or Cambridge, saying that they wanna do a study at their expense, we call that the CERP program, the ChromaDex External Research Program, and it's unprecedented in the industry. As I said, we have over 300 of those collaborative agreements where we supply the ingredient, they pay for the study, and there's some sort of co-sharing of any yielding intellectual property.
That's why we have, at this point, over 80 patents, either licensed or issued directly to us on NAD or NAD precursors. As I said, there have been 30 published clinical studies. The initial studies were mostly on safety, and then they were on NAD levels, but now they're into much more therapeutic indications. Most notable one is probably Parkinson's disease, which is a very important age-related disorder. There's not many approved drugs out there in the market. We've had two phase I clinical studies that have proved safety and the fact that it elevates NAD, but as secondary endpoints, both of those studies measured key Parkinson's markers and showed a statistically significant benefit. We are now three, over three years into a four-year phase II clinical study with 400 Parkinson's participants.
We should who are taking one gram of Tru Niagen a day for a year. That study should be completed at the end of this year, and sometime in the middle of next year, we should see the blinded data, but we're very, very hopeful about that. It is obviously Parkinson's is one. We've already shown out of the 30 clinical studies, we've seven, I believe maybe now eight, have shown a reduction in key inflammation markers in key tissue around the body, brain, heart, muscle, as well as blood. We think that that's one of the reasons why we're seeing a therapeutic benefit for Parkinson's. It reduces inflammation in glial cells in the brain. Therefore, it is likely to have a meaningful application, not only for mild cognitive impairment, perhaps also for Alzheimer's or ALS.
There is data out there indicating a benefit in both of those indications, as well as all those orphan diseases that I have mentioned. Cockayne's and several others are advanced aging diseases. All of these diseases, as well as certain others, are really interesting potential areas of research, to ultimately perhaps become a drug for nicotinamide riboside or some of the other precursors that ChromaDex controls in the future. We-- The company-- All of the revenue right now at the company, almost all of the revenue, is because we sell a dietary supplement. The entire company is essentially just based on the one product, Niagen. But we understand that NAD as a concept is likely to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars market as it grows. When we started here, it wasn't a market at all.
We estimate the worldwide global market for NAD products is probably around $2 billion, maybe it's more at this point. But it'll keep growing because and when you elevate NAD in a cell, you strengthen the cell. Therefore, it has therapeutic and prophylactic benefits to a whole host of indications and problems. Dietary supplements are the tip of the iceberg, but we also see a big market opportunity in the pet market, in the skincare market, in the beverage market, and ultimately, of course, in the drug market. As I said, we have over 80 patents. Most of them are around nicotinamide riboside, but there's another precursor, which is a very, very important one for our future, called nicotinamide riboside triacetate, of which we have very powerful patents, and we have some indication that NRT may be even more effective than NR.
Same is true with NRH and nicotinic acid riboside, NAR. We have other patents around NMN and something called NMNH, and we are doing research on those ingredients as well. As I said, the bulk of our revenue, almost all of our revenue, is online revenue. We do have a retail partner outside the U.S., but most of our revenue is from the U.S. and on Amazon and Shopify. If you go on Amazon and you read the reviews, I think there are now over 15,000 reviews. We have no impact in input on those reviews. It's completely third party and independent. They're very positive, but you also, it's a good way to diligence the company or the product if you guys are just coming, getting to know us. There are some people that throw shots at us.
It's competition that are envious of what we've accomplished in the short period of time, but it's a good indication of how it's benefiting people. We sell in Asia, as I said. We do some cross-border sales into China. We do some cross-border sales into Japan and in the E.U. The bulk of our revenues are in the U.S. and Canada. We have some significant partners. Our main one is, as I said, Watsons, but also we supply the ingredient Niagen to other brands. We made a significant deal with Nestlé Health Science that has a number of brands. They've now released Niagen products in two of their most prestigious high-end dietary supplement brands, Pure Encapsulations and Solgar. Life Extension is another excellent, well-reputed dietary supplement company to whom we supply Niagen.
Now I'm going to turn it over to Brianna to give some financial highlights of the company.
Thank you, Rob, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. You see here our last 12 months financials. This is the quarter end, September thirtieth. We are due to report our fourth quarter earnings the first week of March. You can see here our revenues of $83.5 million. We did have a net loss of $6.5 million, but a positive non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of $1 million, and I'll explain in a moment the reversal of trends to show increasing financial strategic progress. We had $27 million in cash, we had no debt, and all of this is for a company trading at about 1x enterprise value to revenue on a trailing basis. I'll get into our guidance in just a few moments. Next slide, please, or I can control.
As Rob said, our business was built on the back of an e-commerce business. That's the left-hand side. About $60 million of our 2022 sales were from e-commerce or just over 60% of the business. Since 2017, when Rob joined and we pivoted the company to focus on building our own consumer brand, the compound annual growth has been over 100%. Recent periods, we've been growing in the mid- to high teens for the e-commerce business. And on the right, you can see that, that, that drove a strong gross margin trend from just under 50% in 2017 to just under 60% in 2022, and it's continued to be just over 60% for the year-to-date period. Here, as I mentioned, you can see the quarterly Adjusted EBITDA.
We do exclude non-cash charges such as depreciation, amortization, and stock-based comp. We also exclude severance from this number. Up until the third quarter of, really the second quarter of 2022, we were burning about $5-$6 million a quarter. We shifted the business, we focused on efficiencies, we reduced costs, and as you can see, the trend notably shifted to improved Adjusted EBITDA, with a just over $1 million loss in the third quarter of 2022, and then just around breakeven each quarter since then, so the last four quarters.
As a result, we're pleased to report ChromaDex is in its strongest financial position to date, and this is helping contribute to a growing cash balance year to date, up about $6 million for the first nine months of the year, due to the breakeven P&L and positive improvement in working capital. Here you can see the appropriate and comparable GAAP net loss measure, which is the first row. Just under $1 million of GAAP net loss last quarter, the third quarter, and an improved trend that is similar to the Adjusted EBITDA trend. This slide includes our 2023 full year financial outlook. Our latest guidance was for net revenue growth of 14%-16%.
We have been raising that outlook each quarter over the year as we plan conservatively in the macroeconomic environment, and we're able to raise our guidance and looking to come in about 15% at the midpoint here. Gross margin, stable is our outlook. You can see again, trending around 60%, and year to date, as I mentioned, we're close to 61%. Selling, marketing, and advertising, we've driven some efficiencies as we scaled the business from 2021 to 2022, and expect a similar trend of decrease as a percentage of net sales in 2023. Research and development, we are investing. Rob highlighted many of the new verticals that we believe this ingredient can have a large addressable market in, and so we are investing in R&D to drive those new vertical expansion, as well as progress our other NAD precursors.
So we do anticipate that that will be up year-over-year in 2023. General administrative expense, lastly, flat to down $1 million. This is where we've driven some cost savings across the board. Legal expense being down is a key driver of that, as well as other efficiencies in our headcount and our operations. And with that, I'll turn it back to Julia for questions.
Thank you, Rob and Brianna, for the presentation. We will now continue with the Q&A for today's presentation. Your first question, a viewer is asking: Does ChromaDex see the potential for accelerated provisional FDA drug approval after phase II trials for any of the uses of NR that are currently undergoing clinical trials? If so, for which uses might that possibly entail?
The only one that could provisional early approval would theoretically be the Parkinson's study, because the phase II study is 400 participants. That's a very large study, but that would be contingent on the results, which obviously is blinded. We don't know what the results are. We're hopeful. There are a significant number of organizational and administrative things that we would have to take care of in anticipation of that, but that's the only one that would have a chance of getting provisional early approval.
Excellent. Thank you for your answer, Rob. Your next question. A viewer commented: Last year, you said that Blue Hat approval in China was slowed because China wanted safety tests done in China and because they had questions about a solvent Grace was using. Are those things being addressed? Do you believe Blue Hat approval is highly likely, just a question of when? Or do you think that it might never happen?
I believe Blue Hat approval is likely. It's just a question of when. We have not yet conducted the studies that would be needed to get a Blue Hat approval, absent the solvents. There is still some debate about whether we should. We have precursors that don't have those same solvents, and we could technically use one or two of those precursors in China. But then the debate is whether the issue is whether China would accept all the existing studies on nicotinamide riboside or whether we'd have to go back and do more studies. And we don't know yet the answer to that question. But when we know the answer to the question, the studies and the submission will be quick, but we're not there yet. The truth is, it's disappointing where we stand on Blue Hat approval.
Some of it is our fault, some of it is the pace within which Sino likes to work, and some of it has to do with the response time that we've gotten from the Chinese government. We don't know why it's been slow, but it has been slow. We know what the issues are. We think they're resolvable issues, but we're not there yet.
Well, thank you for elaborating on that. Your next question, a viewer is asking: Are you going to get the $2 million from Elysium this year? If so, what would you do with an extra $2 million?
... Well, it's $2.5 million plus interest. I don't know if Elysium has 2.5- of the companies that are trying to solve the problem of aging. We think that humanity will solve that problem. But today, aside from sleep and eating very few calories and exercising every day, the best thing we know of, the best intervention that one can take to help the body age better, is to take Tru Niagen. So we consider ourselves part of the mosaic of the solution of longevity. We look at it more in terms of health span than lifespan, but we think that we're part of that. So even beyond three-five years, we think that there are growth opportunities in the overall space of helping people age better in a real way, in a science-based way.
Not in a false marketing way, not a company that's trying to get around the rules, not a company that's trying to create false impressions, and a company that does it carefully, slowly, with a focus on top line and bottom line and quality and delivering on what we say we're gonna deliver. We take aggressive risks. We do it by the books. We do it legitimately. Sometimes you take a risk, it works, sometimes you take a risk, it doesn't work. We never take too big a risk that bets the house, but we are aggressive, and we take our chances, all at the same time, one step at a time, brick by brick by brick, building something of extreme, long-lasting quality. And I think that's what you've seen, and then I think, I think that's what you'll continue to see.
Excellent. That was beautifully worded. Thank you, Rob, and thank you to our viewers for submitting your questions. If you did not get a chance to ask your questions, feel free to reach out to your account manager here at Renmark. This concludes our presentation for today, but before we go, I will turn it back over to Rob for final remarks.
I have no further remarks other than I'm grateful to you, Julia, and to you, Brianna, for your continued great work and this opportunity. And thank you, our all listeners, for attending and continuing to be interested in ChromaDex. If you'd like to have a more direct personal relationship with Brianna or me, feel free to reach out. We're available.
Thank you, Rob and Brianna, for the presentation. Well, once again, this was ChromaDex Corp., trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol CDXC. Thank you to everyone in San Francisco and surrounding areas for joining us today. The playback for this virtual non-deal roadshow will be available on our website, 24-48 hours after the presentation under the VMDR Library tab. Stay tuned for other presentations in your area. Thank you, and see you next time!