Entrepreneur Peter Collin, of Stonington, has come a long way since he began his sea cucumber odyssey in 1988, searching for a way to profit from the potential in the underutilized Cucumaria frondosa. He’s not yet able to retire on earnings from his anti-arthritic sea cucumber products, but he’s made giant progress since he and business partner, Ron Stegall, incorporated Coastside Bio Resources in 1994.
He’s chosen to take the slow route rather than the Wal-Mart approach, building his sea cucumber empire pickle by pickle and patented new product by patented newer product.
After casting about in the early years, trying various markets for the high protein sea cucumbers, he discovered they contain an anti-inflammatory component, marine chondroitin sulfate, which helps build cartilage. It’s the wearing away of cartilage in joints that causes arthritis. After years of laboratory testing and patent work, Collin developed Sea Chondroitin, an effective anti-arthritis compound. It became the number one component of his first patented product, Ginseng of the Sea, and of all the products that have followed. ArthriSea, developed in 1995, is Sea Chondroitin combined with glucosamine; SeaCuMAX, developed the same year, is 100 percent sea cucumber.
Collin made a huge breakthrough in 1998 when he produced a highly effective anti-inflammatory beefy-tasting chew stick, Sea Jerky for Dogs, containing Sea Chondritin, glucosamine and kelp, along with vitamin E, lecithin, garlic and Omega-3 fatty acids. It may be Coastside’s most successful product, and, apparently, dogs like its taste: one elderly Deer Isle dog, upon discovering an unopened bag of Sea Jerky in an under-counter cupboard, gobbled all twenty-eight sticks, a month’s supply, at a single sitting. Pet owners and veterinarians rave about the results, and the testimonials pour in to the point that, Collin says, “After a while, my staff stopped showing me the testimonial letters, since we were constantly getting them.” At first he wondered if pet owners were seeing a placebo effect, but after analyzing the biochemistry of the product in the lab, he realized there was no doubt about its efficacy.
After realizing that elderly dogs suffer from arthritic joints, it didn’t take much of a leap to figure cats must, too, so Coastside developed, and in 2000 began marketing, an anti-arthritic sea cucumber-based formula for cats called Sea Flex. It’s a bite-size chew that has also become an excellent seller. An anti-arthritic product for horses, EquuSea, followed in 2001. Same results: owners of arthritic cats and horses showered Coastside Bio Resources with grateful thanks. One horse owner, Lynn Pouwels, of Franklin, has been so thrilled with what EquuSea has done for her 22-year-old thoroughbred German cavalry dressage and jumping horse that she touts it to anyone who will listen, saying, “I’m so happy with this product, I want to make sure [Collin] is still putting it out.”
He certainly is, and adding new products and improved versions of some older ones all the time. In 2002 he went off on another tack with topical products – hot spot relief for joints close to the surface – the first of which was DermaSea for dogs and cats. He also marketed an oral DermaSea with Omega-3, -6, -7 fatty acids for improving skin and coat conditions.
The same year, Coastside started a formal search for natural substances to could add to its anti-arthritis arsenal. “We were doing cartilage degradation work at Sheffield University in England,” Collin recalled, “and for fun, I included a pure green tea compound called EGCg in our line-up of possible anti-degradation agents. It turned out to be extremely effective in stopping the decay of cartilage that comes with arthritis.” After seeing the results of the laboratory tests, Collin added it to Sea Jerky, EquuSea and ArthriSea. He refers to green tea as a “magic bullet” because it reduces inflammation and cartilage degradation, stabilizes blood pressure and is an anti-oxidant. He even co-authored a scientific paper on the project’s findings, published in the spring 2002 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.
Coastside’s product list has snowballed and in 2003 the company launched five new patented products. They include MycoSea, a topical anti-fungal lotion for dogs and humans made primarily of sea cucumber extract, and most recently, for human consumption, Frondanol, a sea cucumber oil with Omega-3 fatty acids. MycoSea is effective on ringworm and many other fungal skin infections. Also out in 2003 are EquuStride for sore joints in horses; Sea Bones, a new product for smaller dogs much like Sea Jerky, but with added pre-biotics, which help intestinal tract digestion; and SeaSoap, a canine sea cucumber shampoo bar.
“Our primary curiosity now is to know is happening at the cellular level,” Collin said. “We’ve isolated some pure compounds that are now in pre-clinical development as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents.”
The National Cancer Institute and the Maine Technology Institute have funded Coastside’s research, and in June of this year Collin co-authored a paper published in the journal, The Prostate, on work done at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston using Frondanol.
Future products Coastside is working on include formulas for ulcers, psoriasis, abdominal aneurysms and to boost the immune system in HIV patients.
“We need the marine nutrients that come from [seafood],” Collin said. “Science has repeatedly shown that marine oils provide a dramatic protection against all sorts of Western-style diseases. This is not snake oil. The statistics on this are very clear. Ignoring seafood products raises your risk of disease. We just happen to be fond of [those containing] sea cucumber.”