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Biotechnology company Novella Innovative Technology has appointed nutraceutical industry veteran Antonio Martinez Descalzo as chief executive officer, as the company moves from research and development toward commercial production of plant-cell-derived ingredients.
Martinez brings more than two decades of leadership experience across the life sciences, nutrition and health-and-wellness sectors.
He previously held senior roles at agribusiness and ingredients company ADM, including vice president of innovation and business development director for its health and wellness division, where he helped expand branded ingredients across global markets. He has also contributed to industry policy and development through the board of the International Probiotics Association.
The appointment comes as Novella prepares for a key operational phase.
Chairman and co-founder Kobi Avidan said: “2026 marks a pivotal operational year for Novella. Having successfully completed pilot production, we are moving into full industrial manufacturing, responding to the global demand for precise, consistent and high-potency botanical ingredients”.
At the centre of Novella’s strategy is AuraCell, the company’s proprietary precision-cultivation platform that grows bioactive compounds directly from plant cells in controlled environments.
The process eliminates the need to cultivate whole plants while producing standardised phytonutrients with consistent potency and minimal resource use.
Martinez said the technology introduces what the company calls a new nutraceutical category: 'Precision Botanicals'.
“We’re introducing the new category of precision botanicals into the nutraceutical space,” Martinez said. “This approach enables fully standardised botanical ingredients produced at consistent volumes while supporting sustainability and supply chain resilience.”
The technology also aims to reduce volatility in botanical ingredient supply chains, which are increasingly affected by climate variability and agricultural constraints.
Novella’s first ingredient, Novella Strawberry, is a whole-cell strawberry-derived ingredient containing naturally occurring compounds such as antioxidant phenolic acids. The product is currently available for industrial validation and sampling.
Commercial rollout is expected in 2027, with the company initially targeting the North American nutraceutical market, which it estimates at around $60 billion.
To support scale-up, Novella has partnered with Chemo Biosynthesis, the industrial division of Insud Pharma Group, which will manufacture the ingredient at its pharmaceutical-grade facilities in Italy. Chemo operates as a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) specialising in pharmaceutical production.
Under the agreement, Chemo will integrate Novella’s proprietary plant-cell cultivation technology into its manufacturing processes to enable large-scale production measured in tons.
“Beyond the advantages of having a lean production model that does not require capital-intensive facility build-outs, this approach enables the production of natural ingredients at volume with pharmaceutical-grade precision,” Martinez said.
Novella is also strengthening its production pipeline through partnerships with CDMOs including the UK’s Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and Extracellular, both focused on process development and scale-up for biotechnology products.
In January 2026, the company received grant support from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to advance downstream processing for plant-cell culture. The project is being conducted in collaboration with Extracellular and aims to improve both the economic viability and environmental sustainability of production.
“These combined efforts will create a robust ecosystem that supports Novella’s goal of transforming the nutraceutical supply chain as we transition from start-up to full-production company,” Adivan said.
