CEO Stephen O’Hara and Director of Research & Development Dr Sofia Kolida explain how OptiBiotix plans to take SweetBiotix from the lab to market.

• The product: a sweet, clean-tasting sweetener, expected to break down in the gut into parts that are well established as safe

• Regulation: Europe is the most stringent, the US less so and Asia the least

• Launch plan: Asia first, then the US, then Europe

• Studies under way: glycaemic response and impact on the microbiome

• New expertise: Imad Farhat joins from Firmenich, DSM and Givaudan