OptiBiotix Health PLC (AIM: OPTI), a life sciences business developing compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes and skin care, today announced that it has entered into a production and commercialisation agreement with Fine Foods & Pharmaceuticals N.T.M. S.p.A (“Fine Foods”). The agreement grants Fine Foods an exclusive license for the production and supply of five formulations containing OptiBiotix’s LPLDL® strain in Europe in return for royalty payments and a commitment to maximising the financial return for both parties.
Fine Foods is based in Italy and has more than 30 years’ experience in the design, development and manufacture of customised formulations and presentations for the pharmaceutical and food supplement industry. With revenues of €120m in 2017, it is one of Europe’s largest and fastest growing providers of food supplements and pharmaceutical products, with full GMP certified production facilities and leading pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Bayer, Sanofi etc reported as customers on its website.
Fine Foods has an international reputation and world leading expertise in developing unique formulations and presentations containing probiotic strains. Under the terms of the agreement, Fine Foods have an exclusive license to produce and commercialise five new formulations containing OptiBiotix’s LPLDL®. One for glucose control, one for reduction of high blood pressure, one for reduction of cholesterol levels and two for the reduction of cardiovascular risk. These proprietary formulations will be marketed in innovative presentations including sachets and ‘melt in the mouth’ sticks, to their extensive European network in both the pharmaceutical and food supplement industry.
This agreement is another step in a business to business (B2B) strategy of bringing OptiBiotix’s science together with partner’s expertise and market reach to create multiple product opportunities to serve consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical markets around the world.
Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: “We are pleased to announce this exclusive license agreement with Fine Foods for the production and commercialisation of five new proprietary formulations containing OptiBiotix’s LPLDL®. This agreement extends the range of products and presentations containing OptiBiotix’s LPLDL® and creates an opportunity to access global pharmaceutical markets with an established industry supplier. We chose Fine Foods due to its industry experience, reputation, rapid revenue growth, and impressive client list of global customers in both the Pharmaceutical and Food Supplement sectors. We believe our strategy of identifying and building partnerships with industry leading partners like Fine Foods, provides the best opportunity of rapidly building revenue streams, and establishing LPLDL® as a leading global brand.”
Giorgio Ferraris, CEO of Fine Foods, commented: “We are very excited to enter this agreement with OptiBiotix, which will allow us to promote specific formulations and presentations containing the innovative OptiBiotix’s LPLDL® strain to customers active in the growing market segment of Cholesterol and Blood pressure reduction, as well as Cardiovascular risk. We believe this a unique opportunity for us to expand our commercial presence in the European Food Supplement industry, and has the potential to favourably enhance our existing rate of growth over the coming years.”
