Questions & Answers:
Willner Chemists’ Phyto-Tech™
Herbal Supplements, an
Interview with Derek Wan,
Shenzhen, China.
The Phyto-Tech™ Herbal Supplement line
from Willner Chemists is gaining popularity
not only in the United States, but also
throughout the world. Our approach--avoid-
ing focus on one rigid philosophy and
instead, drawing on the accumulated wisdom
of traditional medicine, from different
regions, and combining it with modern sci-
ence and pharmacology to achieve maximum
efficacy and safety–resonates well with the
patient. Efficacy backed by science, and a
healthy respect for Nature, is the basis of the
Phyto-Tech™ approach.
Recently, we answered a series of questions
from Derek Wan, one of our associates in
China:
Derek: What is the philosophy behind the
Phyto-Tech™ herbal supplement line?
Don Goldberg:
Herbal medicine has been
used for thousands of years. Trial, error, expe-
rience and knowledge has been passed on
from one generation to the next. Historically,
due to differences in indigenous plants, this
body of knowledge is different from one part
of the world to another. Traditional Chinese
Medicine is different from Ayurvedic Herbal
Medicine. Native American Herbal Medicine
is different from European Herbal medicine.
This is to be expected. But today, the world is
much smaller. We no longer have to limit
ourselves to those herbs that can easily be
gathered in our native area. Instead, we can
select those herbs that are most efficacious,
regardless of what part of the world they
come from. This is what we do in the Phyto-
Tech™ herbal line. No geographical limita-
tions. No philosophical limitations. We utilize
those herbs that are safe, stable and most effi-
cacious.
Derek: Anything else?
Don Goldberg:
Yes. The other guiding prin-
ciple is that we strive to combine the best of
modern science with traditional methodolo-
gies. Today, we have the capability to better
identify the active constituents of medicinal
herbs. We have much more sophisticated
extraction methodologies available to us,
enabling optimal concentration and even iso-
lation of the most active ingredients. And,
equally important, we can better standardize
herbal supplements, ensuring that today’s
batch is identical last week’s batch and next
week’s batch. Potency can better be meas-
ured, and purity guaranteed.
Derek: Does Willner Chemists actually
produce the Phyto-Tech™ herbal supple-
ments in New York?
Don Goldberg:
No. The manufacture of
products of this type is a very specialized and
demanding process. Even though Arnie and I
(Arnie Gitomer, R.Ph. and Don Goldberg,
R.Ph., the owners of Willner Chemists) have
extensive experience in manufacturing and
quality control, we felt it was imperative that
we partnered with someone who specialized
in this field. After careful investigation, we
found an herbalist we would trust, Mitch
Coven, and we partner with him to supply
our Phyto-Tech™ herbal products.
Derek: Give me an example of what crite-
ria you used when you chose Mitch as
your partner over other sources.
Don Goldberg:
Certainly. One of the most
important things we looked for was quality
and integrity. This is an issue currently in the
news, in fact. Are there herbal products on
the store shelves that do not actually contain
the herb listed on the label? This is a big
problem. Well, there are many ways to insure
the identity and quality of herbal supple-
ments. Yes, you can talk about sophisticated
instrumental testing, DNA barcoding, etc, but
one of the most important measures, often
overlooked, is the actual physical examina-
tion of the raw herb. Surprisingly, this simple,
basic step is not always performed. Why?
Some companies purchase herbs that have
already been processed. Another company,
for example, has acquired the raw herb–
roots, leaf, flowers, etc–and ground it into a
powder. The powder–rather than the raw
herb-- is then shipped to the herbal company
for additional processing (encapsulation, mac-
eration, etc). This means that the company
cannot examine the raw herb in its native
condition. This is a significant problem. It’s
easy to see that ginkgo leaf is indeed ginkgo
when you can examine the leaf–it’s not so
easy when all you have is a green powder. It’s
easy to evaluate the identity and quality of
ginseng root when you can examine the
root–it’s not so easy when all you have is a
brown powder. We start with the raw herb,
not a powder, and this is just one example of
why we chose to work with Mitch over other
sources.
Derek: What kind of facility does Mitch
run, and where is it located.
Don Goldberg:
The facility is in New
Mexico. It is a FDA (U.S. Food and Drug
Administration) registered manufacturing
plant, with strict, monitored quality control
procedures. CGMP’s (Current Good
Manufacturing Practices) for dietary supple-
ments are followed. Founded in 1982, the
facility was upgraded several years ago from
21,000 to 109,000 square feet, five times the
size. Mitch is already looking to expand
again.
Derek: What are some of the other fea-
tures employed in the manufacture of the
Phyto-Tech™ herbal supplements?
Don Goldberg:
•Certified Organic: Most of the herbs used
are certified organic from medicinal herb
farms.
•Ethically Wildharvested: Our wild herbs
are sensitively harvested to ensure a renew-
able resource. Threatened plants such as wild
Echinacea, Goldenseal and Ginseng are
organically grown.
•Extraction Methodology: As mentioned
above, our fresh plant products use fresh
herbs collected at the peak of potency and
processed within hours of harvest. For dry
percolations, a double process using macera-
tion followed by cold pe-rcolation is utilized.
•Full Spectrum Extracts: It is not always
possible to identify a single active ingredient
in an herbal medicine. In fact, one of the
advantages of herbal medicines is that the
activity is the result of a synergistic combina-
tion of ingredients that interact with each
other. We firmly believe that retaining as
much of this synergistic blend as possible is
greatly advantageous to the overall efficacy of
the product. Our process ensures that the full
biochemical spectrums of the active plant
parts are used. These saturated extracts use a
fresh plant ratio of 1:1 to 1:2. Ratios of dry
plant extracts are usually 1:2 or 1:3.
Derek: The technology behind the pro-
duction of the Phyto-Tech™line certainly
seems impressive. What about the formu-
lations themselves? Who is responsible for
formulating the products.
Don Goldberg:
All three of us have pharma-
ceutical and medical background.
•Donald Goldberg, R.Ph.: Don received his
pharmacy training on the east coast but
moved to California right after graduation to
accept a position as Director of Quality
Control for Ingram Pharmaceutical Company.
He received his Pharmacist license in
California, but remained in the industrial set-
ting, moving from Quality Control to manu-
facturing, product development and market-
ing with companies such as Boericke &
Runyon, Shaklee and Vitamix, where he spe-
cialized in formulation and marketing of glan-
dular supplements and dispersable powdered
protein products. He returned to the East
coast, accepting the position of Vice President
of Faraday Labs (Nutri-Dyn, Sivad). After sev-
eral years, he joined Lewis-Gitomer Labs,
where he was more directly involved with
marketing directly to physicians. It was at this
time that he published his first newsletter and
began what has turned out to be a lasting
relationship with Arnold Gitomer. Before
rejoining Arnie at Willners, however, Don
spent two years as Technical Director for
Arkopharma, helping them introduce their
line of French phytopharmaceutical products
to the American market. He published a
newsletter for physicians, called Phytofacts,
and lectured on herbal medicine throughout
the United States and Canada. After this, he
started his own company, Nutriceutics, dis-
tributing professional nutritional, herbal and
homeopathic products directly to health prac-
titioners. In addition to Phytofacts, Don also
published the Nutriceutics News and was the
contributing editor, nutrition, for The
Chiropractic Journal. His articles have been
published in several professional journals, and
he was the assistant Sysop on Compuserve’s
Natural Medicine Forum. In September 1992,
Don joined forces again with Arnie Gitomer,
buying Willner Chemists. Together, Don and
Arnie have published a widely acclaimed
book, The Best Supplements For Your Health,
and co-hosted a popular two-hour radio pro-
gram on WOR, every Sunday afternoon, for
18 years.
•Arnold Gitomer, R.Ph. Arnie is a graduate
of the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy (1965).
After three years in retail pharmacy, he
moved to industry, accepting the position of
Chief Pharmacist with West Ward, and later,
Columbia Pharmaceutical Company. Through
his involvement in compounding, formulating
and manufacturing, he developed an expert-
ise in the technical aspects of nutritional sup-
plement products. He then founded Lewis-
Gitomer Labs, where he began to work close-
ly with alternative health professionals. As a
distributor of Nutri-Dyn Products, he became
intimately familiar with the requirements of
holistic practitioners, and the use of nutrition-
al, glandular and homeopathic products. For
two years, he taught toxicology at the New
York Chiropractic College, and participated in
numerous postgraduate training programs in
applied kinesiology, nutritional blood chem-
istry analysis, and nutritional pharmacology.
In, 1992, of course, he joined Don as co-
owner of Willner Chemists. Together, Arnie
and Don have published a widely acclaimed
book, The Best Supplements For Your Health,
and co-hosted a popular two-hour radio pro-
gram on WOR, every Sunday afternoon, for
18 years.
•Mitch Coven, medical herbalist, is the
founder and president of Vitality Works, Inc.,
a wellness clinic and FDA-registered herbal
extraction lab in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Since 1982, Mitch has worked with thou-
sands of patients, using herbal medicines in a
holistic context. His interest in herbal medi-
cine grew out of his studies as a pre-pharma-
cy student in the 1970s. Seeking a more
holistic approach to health, Mitch studied
herbal medicine and nutrition with herbalists
and medical doctors, and was heavily influ-
enced by his studies with Michael Moore at
the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine.
Mitch lectures widely and presents at confer-
ences and hospitals around the country. He
has been a faculty member of the National
College of Phytotherapy, serves on the board
of the American Herbal Products Association
(APHA), and is very active in regulatory affairs
affecting the herbal supplement industry.
Derek: I understand the advantages of
using the actual whole, raw herbs in veri-
fying identity and purity, but what other
measures do you take to ensure the quali-
ty of Phyto-Tech™ herbal supplements?
Don Goldberg:
We rely on a combination of
in-house testing and outside laboratories. (3rd
party testing).
•Here is what we do “in-house” (in our
Page 12
The Willner Window Product Reference Catalog, Winter 2017
Since 1911
•
Willner Chemists: The Nutritional Supplement Professionals
Mitch Coven and Emigdio . . . going to the
source, tapping native wisdom.
We partnered with Mitch Coven, who
manufactures our Phyto-Tech™ herbal
supplements
Fourier Transform Infrared
Spectrophotometry--one of the instruments
used to check identity
Questions & Answers:
Willner Chemists Phyto-Tech™ Herbal Supplements
