Coffee flavour enhancers

As you're sitting there at your desk, reading this email with a cup of coffee by your side, are you thinking about the calories, fat, and sugar that might be included in your drink? Well, Nestle and Senomyx have.

Coffee drinkers who add creamers and other additives to enhance the flavour of their drinks may soon be making their coffee a little healthier as a result of a new collaboration between Senomyx and Nestle SA.

Coffee drinkers add substances, such as creamers and sweeteners to improve the flavour of the coffee, but as these additives are being poured into their cups, so are the calories, fat, and sugar. Senomyx and Nestle SA have entered into a collaboration that will allow Nestle to use Senomyx's flavours and flavour enhancers in its coffees and coffee whiteners, which may improve the nutritional profile of these beverages without compromising its taste.

In this collaboration Senomyx will leverage their proprietary approach by using human taste receptors to discover new molecules that can substitute for common flavour additives, such as those in coffee and coffee whiteners. By identifying the human taste receptors that respond to flavours associated with coffee and coffee whiteners, Senomyx allows the taste buds in the tongue to work more efficiently; the more efficient the taste buds work, the less amount of sugar, MSG, and salt additives needed in everyday foods to achieve a desired flavour or taste, hence improving the nutritional profile, without compromising the taste of the foods.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nestle has agreed to pay Senomyx discovery and development funding for up to five years based on research progress during the collaborative period. In addition, Senomyx is eligible to receive milestone payments upon achievement of specific product discovery and development goals. The combined total of research funding and milestone payments could exceed $13m if all milestones are met. Upon commercialisation, Senomyx will receive royalty payments based on sales of products containing new flavor ingredients developed under the agreement.

'We are extremely pleased to establish a second collaboration with Nestle. We believe this new agreement provides further technical and commercial validation of Senomyx as we continue to build our relationship with Nestle by expanding into new segments of their business,' stated Kent Snyder, president and chief executive officer of Senomyx. 'Our goal is to continue to leverage our discovery and development capabilities by establishing additional collaborations with market leading companies seeking to improve the nutritional profile, reduce costs, or improve other attributes of their products,' added Snyder.

Within the next few years, with the help from Senomyx and some of their collaborators such as Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods, you may be drinking your favorite coffee, eating your favorite soup or sipping your favorite carbonated beverage without suffering many of the negative effects, such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension which are associated with sugar, salt and MSG.