Our therapeutic clays are transformed from a 100% natural raw material chosen with the greatest care. For more than 45 years, IPSEN has been extracting, purifying and unleashing the therapeutic potential of clays in its factories in France, and controlling the quality of the soil to the drug.
To offer you a therapeutic clay of the best quality, we “watch over the grain” from the extraction of the raw clay to the packaging of our drug, SmectaGo.
First of all, we are demanding about the quality of our raw material. For the diosmectite contained in SmectaGo, we select the quarries from which our clay will be extracted according to about fifty criteria of mineralogical quality, stability and purity that alone will allow us to deploy the natural properties of the clay. In 45 years, we have visited and studied more than 360 quarries around the world and conducted thousands of sample analyses to select the best deposits for our raw clay.
Controls at every step
Between the extraction of the clay and its reception in our World Center for Production and Advanced Research on Natural Therapeutic Clays of Isle-sur-Sorgue (Vaucluse) in France, the raw material is again controlled.
It is then cleaned and purified in five steps to preserve the structure and release the natural therapeutic properties of the clay. Here again, we apply the highest requirement in the smooth running of this crucial phase for the quality of our clay: every year, nearly 9000 analyzes and controls are carried out on the raw material during this process! With 6g of raw clay, we obtain 3g of our active ingredient, diosmectite.
From the earth to medicine, the expertise of a French laboratory
The diosmectite is then transported in a specific container to the pharmaceutical production unit in Dreux (Eure-et-Loir). There, it will be analyzed, weighed and dosed to guarantee optimal safety and quality of the product. It will finally be formulated with the necessary excipients, flavored and packaged.
Quality and safety have been our priorities for 45 years: in total, each sachet of SmectaGo is subjected to 90 different analyses before it reaches your hands.
