Irish biotech company Nuritas and supplement manufacturer Pharmavite have partnered in a bid to “transform” the dietary supplements industry. The partnership will combine Nuritas’ artificial intelligence (AI) technology with Pharmavite’s experience across multiple dosage forms. The news is the latest in a string of high profile partnerships for Nuritas, including BASF and Nestlé, and an indicator of Nuritas’ consumer strategy.
“As consumer preference and healthcare necessity switch attention from treatment to prevention, nutritional supplements and functional foods play a key role in the Nuritas Consumer strategy,” says Neil Foster, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Nuritas. “Consumers are increasingly seeking natural products but with the highest possible levels of scientific evidence to support their efficacy.”
Consumers are increasingly seeking to take control of their health through preventative means, and this is having an impact on the gray area between food and pharma. Shifts in consumer understandings of health are impacting how they may approach supplementation, for example, in 2019.
The partnership plans to leverage Nuritas’ technology platform, which combines AI and DNA analysis to predict, unlock and validate bioactive peptide ingredients. Pharmavite will deploy its experience to formulate the newly discovered bioactive peptides into consumer dose forms and validate the efficacy of these discoveries within clinical trials.
The initial phase of the project will involve Nuritas screening food and plant materials for peptides, to predict if they have the best bioactivity, Foster explains. However, the health areas being targeted cannot be disclosed for commercial reasons.
“Pharmavite is a leading player in both the US and global vitamin and supplement market. With their Nature Made brand recognized around the world, they have expertise across multiple product formats including capsules, soft gels, hard shell capsules, gummies, liquid shots, powders and more,” he adds.
Foster tells that 2019 will see the company entering into more partnerships in the consumer space, but also in pharmaceuticals.
Since starting operation in 2014, Nuritas has developed proprietary AI and DNA analysis to enhance the accurate analysis of molecules and peptides in food. The new technology is significantly faster with unparalleled accuracy compared to traditional methods of discovery, according to Nuritas.
The company has been at the forefront of the AI and health intersection. Last month, the company secured a US$34m investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to increase and accelerate its use of AI to improve global healthcare.
The investment followed Nuritas’ launch of PeptAIde earlier in 2018, in cooperation with BASF, which demonstrated how AI can accelerate the discovery of healthcare products. Future investment from EIB is to scale up development of new therapeutics in areas of interest including anti-aging, anti-inflammatory and diabetes treatment.
“PeptAIde is the world’s first commercially launched healthcare ingredient (be that functional food ingredient or pharmaceutical active) that has been discovered by Artificial Intelligence. There will be many more,” Foster tells.
Regarding the benefit that Nuritas can bring to large-scale companies, Foster says: “As can already be demonstrated by the nature of the companies partnering with us, the Nuritas technology provides a huge advantage to large-scale companies. Using predictive discovery enables strategy led innovation. The speed that Nuritas can operate at, as demonstrated in the BASF first product launch, means that companies can be quicker to enter new high growth areas.”
“On top of this, Nuritas discoveries benefit from patent by composition of matter so large companies can feel confident to invest in the clinical support and marketing of the new products safe in the knowledge that there will not be any ‘me too’ competition ready to capitalize on their good work,” he concludes.
