Reviewed August 2026 by the Corydalis Labs Technical Team. How we research and review.
Before you start: decide which product you are building
The most expensive mistake in reformulation is trying to recreate the old product. You will not, because 13-OH is a different compound doing a different job, and chasing an impossible target wastes months.
Pick a direction first:
Route A — Differentiated mitragynine
Keep mitragynine as your primary active and add 13-OH to change the product's character. Same compliance posture as today, same channels, better product. Lowest friction. MIT + 13.
Route B — Kratom-free
No Mitragyna speciosa material at all — 13-OH with kava and kanna, or with a stimulant. Different product, different compliance position, channels that were closed to you. Kratom-free.
Plenty of brands eventually run both. Do not try to do both in one SKU.
Step 1 · Map what you actually have
Write down your current spec properly — not the marketing version:
- Every active and its per-serving amount.
- Format, fill size or tablet weight, and count per package.
- Your flavour system and sweetener.
- Your packaging components and where they come from, with lead times.
- Your current per-unit cost, so you can tell later whether the new build works commercially.
The packaging line matters more than people expect, because packaging is what gates your production timeline. Our lead time is fifteen days from packaging in hand — the fifteen days is rarely the constraint.
Step 2 · Choose a starting inclusion
Start at 30 mg of 13-OH per serving for a blend. It is the most common inclusion, it sits in the middle of the working range, and it gives you room to move in either direction after your bench trial.
For a standalone kratom-free build, start above 100 mg and pair it with a stimulant. Full dosing guidance.
Do not start low to be cautious. Trialling at 10 or 15 mg is the single most common reason a brand concludes the compound does nothing.
Step 3 · Run a proper bench trial
Three samples, one variable at a time:
- Control — your current or previous product, unchanged.
- Additive — the same formula plus 30 mg of 13-OH. Isolates what 13 adds.
- Substitutive — 30 mg of 13-OH with mitragynine reduced. Tests whether you can hit your target with a lighter alkaloid load.
Use a panel rather than one person, keep the flavour system identical across all three, and blind them if you can. Our sample kit is built for this — 10 grams of material for $400 with finished tablet and shot samples included, so you can assess the compound and the format together.
What usually decides it
Sample three. The commercial case for 13-OH most often becomes obvious when a brand sees it can reach its target profile with less mitragynine — which shortens the ingredient statement and lightens the alkaloid load without giving up the product.
Step 4 · Sort the label before artwork
You are adding a declared ingredient, which means label copy and possibly panel layout change. Decide these before artwork goes to print:
- How you name the ingredient on the panel and in marketing.
- Whether your product is still within state kratom acts. If mitragynine is present, yes — nothing changes. If you have gone kratom-free, your obligations change and your claims must be accurate. State detail.
- Your claims. This is where enforcement actually lands in this category. Read the marketing guidance before you write copy, and have counsel review it before launch.
- 21+ positioning regardless of whether a statute compels it.
Step 5 · Book production
Lock the spec, place the order, get packaging moving. Our co-packing lead time is fifteen days from the point packaging reaches us; demand is rising and the queue fills, so an earlier spec holds an earlier slot.
Minimums are 25,000 tablets or 15,000 liquid shots. Terms on a co-packing run are 70% deposit to secure the slot with the balance due before shipping. How a run works.
A realistic timeline
| Stage | Typical duration | What gates it |
|---|---|---|
| Sample kit ordered and delivered | Days | We keep tablet and shot samples in stock |
| Bench trial and panel evaluation | 1–2 weeks | Your team's availability, not ours |
| Spec locked and quote issued | 1 business day from a complete request | How complete your spec is |
| Artwork and packaging | Highly variable | Usually the real constraint — start it in parallel with the bench trial |
| Production run | 15 days from packaging in hand | Queue position at the time you commit |
Common questions
For most brands the production run is not the constraint — packaging is. Samples ship in days, bench work takes a week or two, and production is fifteen days from packaging in hand. Start packaging procurement in parallel with your bench trial and the whole thing compresses considerably.
Often yes for the components, though your label copy will need to change because you are declaring a different ingredient. Send us what you have and we will tell you what works.
Usually not. If you are adding piperine as an absorption enhancer, expect a noticeable taste impact and plan for it — that is the main flavour-relevant decision in these builds.
Then do not buy a kilogram. We would much rather a brand walks away after a $400 sample than after a production run. Tell us what you observed — sometimes it is an inclusion-rate problem we can help with, and sometimes the answer really is that it is not right for your product.
Yes, and most brands want this. Send us your current spec and what you are trying to achieve. You do not need a finished formula to start.