Producer
Desert King International
San Diego-based producer of quillaja and yucca saponin extracts; operates Natural Response S.A. forestry and extraction facility in Quilpue, Chile; world's largest producer of QS-21 raw material; critical components in 5 globally approved vaccines including Shingrix (GSK) and Nuvaxovid (Novavax); Desert King is Novavax's sole quillay extract supplier
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Pharmaceutical Quillaja Extracts (QS-21)
60%Food & Beverage Quillaja
25%Yucca Saponins
10%Forestry & Sustainability
5%
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Did you know2024
Desert King International supplies quillaja saponin extracts to both human vaccine programs (QS-21 for Shingrix, Nuvaxovid) AND to the food/beverage industry as a natural foaming agent used in root beer, fire suppressant foam, and cosmetics — and is Novavax's sole quillay extract supplier. If a major food or industrial application created competing demand for quillaja bark, it would directly compete with vaccine supply from the same Chilean forests.
Desert King International ↗Origin2023
Desert King International was founded in San Diego in the 1980s to commercialize botanical extracts from the Quillaja saponaria (soapbark) tree, which grows primarily in Chilean central and northern forests. The company established Natural Response S.A. in Chile to manage sustainable harvesting and extraction operations. Quillaja bark saponins had been used in beverages (as a natural foaming agent in root beer and similar drinks) since the early 20th century, but Desert King pioneered the pharmaceutical purification of the QS-21 fraction that GSK's vaccine research discovered could enhance immune responses. When Shingrix (GSK's shingles vaccine) received approval in 2017 using the AS01B adjuvant system containing QS-21, Desert King became a critical supplier to the most commercially successful vaccine launched in that decade. A San Diego company running Chilean forest operations harvesting trees that indigenous Mapuche people had used as soap for centuries became a critical node in modern vaccine manufacturing.
Desert King International ↗