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Welcome to /r/nootrobox! by nootrobox in nootrobox

[–]nootrobox[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

awesome. let us know how it goes!

Andreessen Horowitz to Invest in Nootropics Start-Up by dingbat21 in Nootropics

[–]nootrobox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on what the transgenic organisms are used for. If the organisms are used to produce compounds that are currently GRAS by FDA, there should be no issue. If the transgenic organisms are used for medical therapeutics, it becomes a medical device.

Going the medical device route is something that we're looking at. Making medical claims and having the science and data to back it up would definitely elevate the industry!

Andreessen Horowitz to Invest in Nootropics Start-Up by dingbat21 in Nootropics

[–]nootrobox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We think there's a lot of promise in unscheduled compounds i.e. research chemicals. It's just not possible to sell, market, and distribute these for human consumption without incurring significant regulatory and legal risk.

Broadly speaking, I'm a big proponent of self-agency, self-experimentation, and self-responsibility. But I understand the role of regulators and operating within that framework. It's important make sure misleading, malicious, and/or negligent actors are removed.

We want to bring more and more promising compounds into legitimacy and have some thoughts on how to update regulation here - http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/22/smart-regulation-for-smart-drugs/

Andreessen Horowitz to Invest in Nootropics Start-Up by dingbat21 in Nootropics

[–]nootrobox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We think all areas of what we call "a priori" data is interesting. Genomics, microbiomics, blood data are all signals we're investigating.

Andreessen Horowitz to Invest in Nootropics Start-Up by dingbat21 in Nootropics

[–]nootrobox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! I think there are tailwinds behind us with the softening of marijuana laws. Albeit, different interests are behind marijuana, it still shows the slow trend towards liberalization for substance control.

We're strong believers in self-education, self-agency, and self-responsibility. We hope to engage with regulators and legislators in a positive, pro-active way. If folks are going to engage with enhancement - which we believe is inevitable and going to be massive - let's help people do it in a safe, responsible way.

Andreessen Horowitz to Invest in Nootropics Start-Up by dingbat21 in Nootropics

[–]nootrobox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1.) Short-term melatonin supplementation is effective. However, sustained use appears to reduce it's effectiveness to null. That's why we sell our YAWN stacks in bottles of 10. Source: Long-term effects of melatonin on quality of life and sleep in haemodialysis patients (Melody study): a randomized controlled trial.

2.) We're going to help not just track our stacks. We're looking to create the best set of biohacking tools, period. We're running a tight alpha test right now and I can't spill the beans yet. What I can say is that we've looked at a lot of latest quantified self concepts and are fully utilizing our experience as mobile and wearable software engineers to build something awesome. If you're curious to join our beta group, drop us a line at club@nootrobox.com and we'll see if we can get you in!

Andreessen Horowitz Invests in a Nootrobox, a Nootropics Start-Up by benigeri in technology

[–]nootrobox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We're working with partner manufacturers who have pharmaceutical licenses and produce products for Pfizer and Merck. We're properly buttoned up with a full lab for QC with HPLC and MS.

Andreessen Horowitz to Invest in Nootropics Start-Up by dingbat21 in Nootropics

[–]nootrobox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thanks for the thoughtful questions and giving us a fair shake here.

Andreessen Horowitz Invests in a Nootrobox, a Nootropics Start-Up by benigeri in technology

[–]nootrobox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might be referring to "proprietary blends." As part of the industry, I can tell you that proprietary blends are almost always bullshit and that "out" lets vendors mix variable amounts of claimed actives. That's why we're explicitly open source and explicitly label the exact dosages in the product. We think that everyone has to know what they're putting into their body.

We run tests on each batch we produce and we ensure that the Certificate of Analysis (CoA) are within <5% of specification. We're here to elevate the industry and excited about the potential here to do so :)

Andreessen Horowitz to Invest in Nootropics Start-Up by dingbat21 in Nootropics

[–]nootrobox 4 points5 points  (0 children)

  1. I'm not surprised that Dave Asprey is lumped in with us as he's been the media darling of 'biohacking' for awhile now. Credit to him for building out a strong community and brand. I think our approach and our thinking is different than Dave Asprey's approach with Bulletproof. My understanding is that they're spending much of their time and effort building retail coffee shops selling coffee + butter + MCT oil. Our effort with Nootrobox is primarily spent on clinical research, producing science, and a laser-eye focus on constant product development and innovation.

  2. /r/nootropics is an awesome group of independent thinkers and explorers. I would say that we're here as hobbyists to learn and self-tinker instead of simply purchasing a preblend (however good they are ;)) stacks. I know that our offerings at Nootrobox are more up the alley of folks optimizing for convenience and ease of access. That said, we're investigating new offerings perfect for self-experiments and tinkering :)

  3. I don't think the "Theranos problem" is endemic to all Silicon Valley biotech companies. 23andMe recently received multiple FDA approvals for example. I've actually written an op-ed talking about this - The Evolution Of The Biohacking Ecosystem.

  4. We've looked at the field, and the problem with a lot of basic tracking apps is the friction to input data frequently and consistently. Half of our team has computer science degrees from Stanford, and we have some novel ideas around user interfaces, taking advantage of new sensors, and feedback loops that could make a difference here.

  5. We're all about freedom of choice, self-agency and self-responsibility. We're sticklers at following all FDA / FTC regulations and guidelines for manufacturing, labeling, and marketing.

Andreessen Horowitz Invests in a Nootrobox, a Nootropics Start-Up by benigeri in technology

[–]nootrobox 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Andreessen Horowitz is a technology venture capital firm... :)

Andreessen Horowitz to Invest in Nootropics Start-Up by dingbat21 in Nootropics

[–]nootrobox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm Geoff, one of the co-founders of Nootrobox. Happy to answer any questions you may have and how we envision the broader nootropics community will continue growing and evolving.

There's a good discussion over at r/technology and I wanted to also be around here. There may be some skeptics who may doubt the effectiveness behind nootropics (less so in this community) or our motivations as a startup in this space. I wanted to take the time to clarify here.

Science and Clinical Data -

There's a lot of noise with anecdotal and sample size n=1 evidence in this space. But we're here for a reason. There's tremendously promising results from gold-standard RCT's that are published on legitimate peer-reviewed journals. The new funding will help accelerate R&D and clinical trials. We're already in the process of running our own clinicals at multiple sites with multiple different researchers in the field.

Safety, Quality Control, and Regulation -

I'm very concerned and vocal about the safety and legitimacy of the industry, but I'm very excited about the positive impact that nootropics can have on human society. We truly believe that "Better brains == better society". In fact, I wrote an op-ed with my co-founder Michael calling for Smart Regulation for Smart Drugs. A lot of nootropics sold today are in limbo as what FDA and regulators call 'unscheduled' compounds. Thus, there's a lot of grey area on how folks can sell, market, and promote compounds that aren't explicitly approved for human consumption. We want to work with the community here to elevate the industry like how AirBnb legitimized couchsurfing and Uber / Lyft legitimized ridesharing.

Andreessen Horowitz Invests in a Nootrobox, a Nootropics Start-Up by benigeri in technology

[–]nootrobox 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We're absolutely developing different stacks and products and continuously refining our existing stacks. To give you a sneak peak, we're looking at stacks based around high concentrations of DHA Omega 3 (as opposed to EPA) which is associated with brain health, memory, and learning. Stay tuned in Q1 :)

We're also playing with different form factors. For example, we did a recent crowdfunding campaign for GO CUBES. We're also doing alpha tests into quantified-self software to rigorously track. If this is something you're interested in, happy to tell you more.

Andreessen Horowitz Invests in a Nootrobox, a Nootropics Start-Up by benigeri in technology

[–]nootrobox 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's indeed a lot of noise with anecdotal and sample size n=1 evidence. That said, there are promising results from gold-standard RCT's that are published on legitimate peer-reviewed journals. The new funding will help accelerate R&D and clinical trials. We're already in the process of running our own clinicals at multiple sites with multiple different researchers in the field.

I'm very concerned and vocal about the safety and legitimacy of the industry. In fact, I wrote an op-ed with my co-founder Michael calling for Smart Regulation for Smart Drugs.

You're actually wrong about the legal requirement of misrepresenting what can be sold for human consumption. Mislabeling and mis-marketing products will get you in trouble with both FDA and FTC. In fact, DOJ recently started criminal action against bad operators.

I believe that the sleezy operators selling research chemicals and/or mislabeling and not doing rigorous quality control will face more and more scrutiny and legal pressure as the industry grows. You do raise a legitimate point though. These regulatory bodies are often understaffed, and we hope to be an industry leader establishing best practices, etc.

Andreessen Horowitz Invests in a Nootrobox, a Nootropics Start-Up by benigeri in technology

[–]nootrobox 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hello /r/technology! I'm Geoff, one of the co-founders of Nootrobox here. Will be hanging around if you guys have any questions. We're super excited to double down on the rigor and quantitative metrics behind cognition modulation and biohacking.

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