OptiBiotix brings SlimBiome® technology to growing North American weight management market
OptiBiotix Health Plc., a leading life sciences business focused on harnessing the power of the human microbiome to tackle and manage chronic diseases, has signed a deal to manufacture and distribute its weight management technology SlimBiome® in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
OptiBiotix, focused on developing compounds to tackle obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol, has entered into an agreement with Agropur MSI, LLC (“Agropur”) to manufacture and distribute SlimBiome weight management technology into the US weight management market – a market estimated to be worth $72 billion in 2019. The global weight management market is expected to generate approximately $348.1 billion by 2025 and North America is anticipated to remain the leading region over the forecast period.
Dr. Fred Narbel, Managing Director of Optibiotix’s prebiotics division, commented: “This is an exciting collaboration that will extend the commercial opportunity for SlimBiome with an established partner that has extensive reach to companies using high-value functional ingredients into their food applications”.
“Agropur is a world-leading expert in the manufacture and distribution of speciality ingredients like SlimBiome and this partnership is well aligned to meet the growing demands of the local population. Additionally, it provides OptiBiotix market access in North America, with the benefit of a de-risked supply chain by adding the manufacturing process. We look forward to seeing the interest grow in SlimBiome from partners worldwide.”
SlimBiome is a revolutionary functional ingredient which is transforming the way weight loss is traditionally approached. The patented ingredient, which won ‘Weight Management Ingredient of the Year’ award at the NutraIngredients Awards 2018, contains a blend of non-digestible prebiotics and dietary fibres, to create a longer-lasting feeling of fullness. It can be incorporated into a wide range of applications including human nutrition comprising of food and beverages, dairy, dietary supplements and sports nutrition with the exception of extruded product in cereal particulates.
Agropur is a North American dairy industry leader with 8,800 employees and sales of $6.7 billion in 2018. The company processes more than 6.2 billion litres of milk per year at its 39 plants across North America and boasts an impressive portfolio of brands and products including Natrel, OKA, Iögo, BiPRO, Agropur Grand Cheddar, Olympic, Farmers, Island Farms, Québon, ISO Chill and Crino.