Life sciences group OptiBiotix Health plc has signed a manufacturing agreement with India-listed food ingredients giant Tata Chemicals.
It is an expansion of a deal the two inked last December and gives Tata, part of the Tata Group, the exclusive rights to produce a sugar from OptiBiotix’s LP-LDL probiotic strain.
The sugar, galacto-oligosaccharide, will be used in various food and over-the-counter products, subject to its successful development at pilot development.
When digested they stimulate the growth of ‘good’ gut bacteria, which Opti has showed can lead to improved health and help to tackle chronic lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
This agreement with Tata focuses on the Asian markets, particularly India, but Opti is in talks with other companies about manufacturing the cholesterol and blood pressure-lowering strain in other markets such as the US.
Tata’s experience in microbiome modulation will see them incorporate LP-LDL into new food products in hopes that its selective ability to modify an individual microbiome would lead to improved health for consumers.