Mastix Medica, a manufacturer of tableted functional food and nutritional supplement products, has acquired the private label division and pressed tablet factory of Koko’s Confectionery & Novelty Co., which currently manufactures tableted chewing gum and mints for contract manufacturing and private label customers, along with its own novelty candy products. Using Koko’s Confectionery’s 28,000-sq.-ft. tableting facility located in Baltimore County, Md., Mastix plans to continue growing the confectionery business by developing custom formulations that incorporate nutritional supplements into the category. Eventually, the company plans to manufacture and market its own healthcare products.

Additionally, Mastix expects product differentiation in the functional food, nutritional supplement and pharmaceutical sectors to become even more important.

“To meet these market needs, Mastix is focusing on developing products in emerging, underutilized dosage forms like orally disintegrating tablets and tableted chewing gum,” said Robert Estey, ceo of Mastix Medica. “Our directly compressible chewing gum tablets are an excellent delivery vehicle for nutritional supplements and, longer term, for pharmaceutical products.”