As explained here, this is not likely a new way to synthesize NR, and it's almost certainly no threat to CDXC. Chris, with your permission, I'll merge this thread into the existing one on this subject.
The difficulty is not in producing NR. The difficulty is in producing NR-Cl.
NR-Cl (what Chromadex calls "Niagen") is an easy-to-work-with powder which stays a powder. NR is extremely hygroscopic, and absorbs moisture from the air, quickly becoming a sludge.
So if you see another method to produce NR-Cl, then Chromadex could be in trouble (if it's a cheaper, more efficient method).
What you say all seems to be widely believed here, and almost none of it is true . The trick is is, in some part, the synthesis of NR: CDXC appears to have licensed both Sauve's method through Cornell and a fermentative method. There are at least two other patented methods, and so if you want to play in th eNR space you're going to have to either license one, or come up with a novel route — or wait for the patents to expire.
And the trick is not in producing NR-Cl per se: plenty of unstable, hygroscopic NR-Cl salts have been produced for 50 years, but none are patented because they're useless. The trick is to make a stable, crystalline, pharmaceutically-acceptable salt. As explained in this GSK patent:
The first chemical synthesis was accomplished by Todd and coworkers in 1957 … [who] produced NR chloride as a mixture of α- and β-anomers about the glycosidic linkage in an approximately 1 : 4 ratio. The product was described as a hygroscopic oil that could not be crystallized. Other investigators who isolated NR chloride from biochemical sources also described it as a hygroscopic oil … Significantly, biochemical syntheses should have produced only the natural β-anomer, though the exact stereochemical arrangement was not determined. Later reports confirmed the hygroscopic, amorphous nature of NR chloride ...
Other groups investigated alternative NR anions. One synthesis described the anomerically pure NR bromide salt as crystalline, but the product was not adequately described to ascertain whether the material was truly crystalline or merely an amorphous solid. … Subsequently, other NR salts were prepared and solids were obtained, though they were never described as crystalline ...
Previously described NR salt preparations are amorphous NR and extremely hygroscopic, becoming sticky solids within seconds or minutes and collapsing to oils within hours at ambient temperature and humidity. Maintaining the amorphous salts as solids required storing them under a dry atmosphere, or keeping them frozen at approximately -20°C. Importantly, the oily mixtures decomposed significantly over the course of one day at ambient temperature. This property presents a major challenge for isolating and handling NR salts. It also makes it difficult to specify the purity of an NR preparation, because some handling under ambient conditions is inevitable during analysis or use. Ease of handling and purity are important parameters for a substance that might be manufactured for human consumption. These are also important considerations for a substance that will be used for any subsequent purpose, for example as a synthetic intermediate for another chemical transformation, as a biochemical reagent, as an analytical standard, or for any other use where chemical purity and stability are desired. …
Furthermore, while several of the previously described preparations of anomerically pure NR salt crystals have been bromide rather than chloride salts, bromide salts may be unnecessarily toxic or otherwise undesireable as a pharmaceutical salt form compared to corresponding chloride salts. ...
The present invention describes the preparation and characterization of two distinct crystalline forms of nicotinamide riboside chloride.