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Niagen Bioscience—the parent company behind Tru Niagen®—was recently featured as the April 2026 cover story of LA Times Studios Business Magazine. In an exclusive, organic, unpaid interview with Sara Kitnick, Senior Content Strategist at LA Times Studios, CEO Robert Fried sat down to discuss the company's NAD+ growth strategy, its decades-long commitment to research and innovation, and what comes next following two major moves: the sale of the ChromaDex Reference Standards division in February 2026, and the recent launch of the Niagen Plus Telehealth Program and Niagen® NanoCloud™.
For readers who first met Niagen Bioscience through Tru Niagen®, the piece offers a rare, in-depth look at the company behind the bottle—the science, the standards, and the strategy that have made Tru Niagen® one of the most trusted NAD+ boosters on the market.
Why This Story Matters to the Tru Niagen Community
If you take Tru Niagen®, you've already met the supplement. The LA Times Studios cover story is your introduction to the company that makes it—and to a quality bar that's increasingly rare in the supplement aisle.
As Kitnick frames it in the piece, Niagen Bioscience has built something structurally different from the typical supplement brand. That difference shows up in how the company controls its science, its ingredient supply, and its quality standards from the ground up—and it's the reason the cover story is worth reading in full.
Solving the Supplement Industry's Quality Problem
When you buy Tru Niagen®, you're buying into a quality infrastructure that didn't appear overnight. Niagen Bioscience was founded over 25+ years ago in Orange County as a reference standards business, verifying the quality and purity of ingredients for other brands. That obsession with purity became the company's DNA—and it gave Rob a sobering view of how the rest of the industry tends to operate.
"The percentage of companies where the ingredient in the bottle matches what's on the label is shockingly low." —Rob Fried, CEO, Niagen Bioscience
He goes on to tell LA Times Studios that some brands include only "pixie dust" amounts of the ingredient on the label—or list ingredients that aren't really there at all.
Rob also reminds us that control matters most. Niagen Bioscience doesn't license its patents to companies selling Niagen®… we supply the ingredient ourselves: "We make it and send it to them." That vertical control—patent, ingredient, manufacturing, and testing all under one roof—is exactly why a market full of imitators has only sharpened Tru Niagen's® quality advantage.
A Brand Built on Curiosity and Science
Rob opens his interview with LA Times Studios by going back to the start, reassuring readers that it has always been about science.
"I was paying very, very close attention to the science." —Rob Fried, CEO, Niagen Bioscience
What began as personal curiosity quickly turned into an obsession with purity and quality—the same obsession that shaped Niagen Bioscience's earliest days as a reference standards business and continues to guide every product Tru Niagen® launches today.
As Kitnick observed in the piece, by the time the longevity market went mainstream, Niagen Bioscience already had the patents in place, the research relationships built, and the manufacturing infrastructure ready. "By the time the longevity market went mainstream, Niagen Bioscience already had the patents, the research relationships, and the manufacturing infrastructure. Everyone else was still catching up.”
For Rob, expansion only works when it stays anchored to that founding principle: paying very close attention to the science.
Looking Ahead: A Future Backed by Research and Innovation
The years of research, innovation, and groundwork behind Niagen Bioscience aren't the destination—they're the foundation for what comes next. That foundation rests on a body of evidence and infrastructure that few in the supplement industry can match:
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45+ clinical studies on Niagen®
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60+ patents protecting Niagen®
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300+ global research collaborations
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9.99/10 TrustScore with TESTED by SuppCo
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NSF® Certified for Sport with our Tru Niagen® Pro and Stick Packs products
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19 internal and third-party quality tests on every batch of Tru Niagen®
That foundation is what makes the next iteration possible. With the newly launched Niagen® At-Home Injectable Kit as part of the Niagen Plus Telehealth Program, and Niagen NanoCloud™ from the Niagen Skincare Innovation Lab, Rob makes it clear that the company is taking strategic, science-led steps in this next phase—not chasing what's in front of the consumer, but following where the science points.
"We view ourselves as the world's leading experts in NAD+." —Rob Fried, CEO, Niagen Bioscience
That sense of responsibility, Rob explains, is why Niagen Bioscience continues to invest in understanding every way NAD+ can be administered—oral, injectable, IV, topical—and how each delivery method might support the body differently.
The company, Rob explains, was simply pursuing a better methodology for delivery—one that might improve people's health. The cultural shift toward at-home injectables just happened to meet Niagen Bioscience where it already was.
For Tru Niagen® customers, what this means is simple: the supplement you trust comes from a company whose ambition keeps growing—and whose standards refuse to compromise.
Read the full LA Times Studios cover story here →
You can also explore our blog What is NAD+? Its Role in Cellular Respiration and Aging to learn more about how NAD+ supports the way your body ages.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.