From Zambia to Star City

A family story of curiosity, determination and a remarkable plant from the forests of Northeast Asia.

It began on the roads of Africa

In the early 1980s, Eladon founder Richard Ross—born in Ireland—was living in Lusaka, Zambia, and running a small trucking business carrying goods from South Africa. The journeys were long, hot and demanding, requiring concentration across hundreds of miles.

Through the Russian Embassy in Lusaka, Richard encountered a liquid preparation known as Elrit, made from Eleutherococcus senticosus—also known as Eleuthero or Siberian ginseng.

He tried it during those demanding journeys and was struck by the experience. It wasn’t the sudden lift of a conventional stimulant, but what he remembers as a quieter, more sustained sense of energy and mental clarity.

It began as a personal discovery but left Richard with a question: what was this remarkable plant, and why had so much research been carried out around it?

Finding the answer would take him from Zambia to Bangor, across Europe to Moscow and, ultimately, through the doors of the Cosmonaut Training Centre at Star City.

Bringing the question home

When Richard returned from Africa in the late 1980s, he moved to North Wales to study at Bangor University—and brought his fascination with Eleuthero with him.

As he followed the available literature, he discovered that scientists had been investigating the plant for decades in connection with physically and mentally demanding environments, fatigue, performance and the body’s response to stress.

Much of that work was written in Russian and was largely inaccessible to Western readers at the time. Richard didn’t want to repeat claims from a distance; he wanted to understand the research, meet the people behind it and follow the story to its its its source.

A correspondence that opened a door

Richard began corresponding with Professor Vladimir Kupin at the Moscow Cancer Research Institute, whose work included research into Eleutherococcus and immune function.

What began as an exchange of letters grew into an invitation to Moscow in the early 1990s.

Richard made the journey with his wife, Dr Moira Williams who brought a clinical understanding that would become central to Eladon’s scientific story.

Together, they visited Star City with Richard’s business partner Mervin Davies and his wife Wenda, and were guests at the Moscow Cancer Research Institute where they met Professor Kupin who had spent years studying Eletherococcus senticosus (Eleuthero). .

This was far more than a commercial visit. Richard, Moira and Mervyn had travelled to meet the scientists, ask questions and understand the remarkable body of research at its source.

The journey to Star City

Richard, Moira and Mervyn also visited the Cosmonaut Training Centre at Star City, near Moscow. There they met Colonel Vladimir Alexeev, Head of Medical Research, and the decorated cosmonaut Colonel Aleksandr Volkov.

For Richard, one of the most memorable moments was watching Moira and Alexeev speak as two doctors. Despite the language barrier, their shared medical understanding allowed the conversation to move beyond introductions and into the scientific questions that had brought them all to Star City.

The visit brought together two very different worlds: a couple from North Wales with their business partner following a botanical question and researchers who had spent years studying human resilience in some of the most demanding environments imaginable.

From the forests of Asia to outer space

At Star City, they discovered that Eleuthero’s story reached far beyond traditional herbal use. They heard first-hand how it had reportedly been used within the Soviet space programme, where researchers were studying how the human body adapted to extreme physical and mental demands—including life in space.

Their connection with the space programme continued after they returned home. Professor Kupin and Colonel Aleksandr Volkov later travelled to the UK several times bringing this remarkable chapter of Eladon’s story to North Wales.

Volkov was no ordinary visitor. A veteran of three space missions, he spent more than 391 days in space and commanded missions aboard the Mir space station. During his UK visit, he also met his fellow cosmonaut, Helen Sharman, Britain’s first astronaut.

From a root discovered on the roads of Zambia to scientists, cosmonauts and the Mir space station, Eleuthero took Richard and Moira on a journey neither could have imagined—and provided the foundations on which Eladon was built and where our products ELAGEN and ELAGEN SPORT were developed.

Moira takes the research forward

Moira didn’t simply bring this knowledge home—she put it to the test.

Working with the Herpes Viruses Association, she designed and conducted a placebo-controlled study examining an Eleutherococcus root extract in relation to recurrent herpes simplex type II infection.

Her paper, “Immuno-protection against herpes simplex type II infection by eleutherococcus root extract,” was published in 1995 in the International Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

Years later, the paper was included in the published list of literature considered by the European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee during its assessment work on Eleutherococcus root.

This does not mean that the EMA assessed or endorsed Elagen. However, for research originating from a small family business in North Wales to become part of the literature gathered by a major European medicines body remains a proud and meaningful part of our history.

From an extraordinary journey, Eladon takes shape

Eladon grew from an unusual chain of events: Richard’s discovery in Zambia, his studies in Bangor, years of correspondence, the journey to Moscow and Star City, and Moira’s medical perspective and published research.

This was never intended to become another anonymous, off-the-shelf supplement brand. Eladon was founded to make carefully selected extracts available with a genuine understanding of the plants, the research behind them and the importance of consistency, quality and trust.

The next generation

More than 30 years later, Eladon remains an independent family business in North Wales. The next generation is helping to carry the story forward, bringing the company’s history, research and values to a new audience while preserving the curiosity that started everything.

Our products have developed over the years, but the principle at the centre of Eladon remains the same: respect the power of nature, understand the science as honestly as possible and never forget where the journey began.

“Eladon began with a personal experience and a question. More than 30 years later, we are still following where that question leads.”

Richard Ross
Founder of Eladon