Nestle Nutrition enters commercial discussions with Phophagenics

Melbourne, Australia-based Phosphagenics has announced further details of its option agreement with Nestle Nutrition which grants the Nestle speciality nutrition business the right to negotiate, on an exclusive worldwide basis, a commercial agreement to use Phosphagenics' Phospha-E product for the treatment and prevention of metabolic syndrome.

The announcement follows on from the successful completion of a series of full dose-response pre-clinical studies on Phospha-E previously announced to the market in December, 2006.

The option agreement requires Nestle Nutrition to launch a product within 12 months of regulatory approval. Also, under the agreement, Phosphagenics will be responsible for the manufacture and sales of Phospha-E to Nestle Nutrition.

Harry Rosen, managing director of Phosphagenics said: 'It is very exciting that we have been able to partner with, in my view, the world's most progressive specialised nutrition company. Phosphagenics is looking forward to working closely with Nestle Nutrition to bring Phospha-E to market for this indication as quickly as possible.'

The final results of the two pre-clinical multi-dose response trials confirmed that when given orally, Phospha-E significantly reduced many of the key biomarkers associated with metabolic syndrome, inflammation and cardiovascular disease. Additionally, the most appropriate dosage required to commence human clinical trials was also determined.

In these trials, animals treated with varying doses of Phospha-E were shown to have statistically significant reductions in key parameters such as plaque formation, aortic vascular dysfunction, cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-C (so-called bad cholesterol).