Last week’s headlines included Iovate announcing a new scientific advisory board, PharmaLinea’s acquisition by ANJAC Health & Beauty, and the Alliance for Natural Health USA calling for FDA regulatory reform to broaden access to medical foods.
Iovate builds scientific board to lead education push
Iovate Health Sciences International has formed a scientific advisory board to provide guidance on research priorities, product development and scientific communication strategies centered on the field of muscle health, recovery and metabolic health.
“Iovate carefully selected advisory board members for their proven expertise, scientific credibility and shared passion for advancing awareness of nutrition and supplement science,” Raza Bashir, chief innovation officer at Iovate, told NutraIngredients. “Having had the privilege of working with these incredible experts, I greatly admire their work and collaborative approach to science, particularly in terms of professional and consumer adoption.”
According to Bashir, the advisory board will collaborate with the company to support innovation and to develop clinical strategies to advance nutrition and supplement science across its product line, which includes Hydroxycut and MuscleTech.
The company stated that having the members on board will also allow for open dialogue on the latest discoveries in performance nutrition, including products and ingredients.
PharmaLinea acquired by ANJAC Health & Beauty Group
Slovenia’s PharmaLinea has been acquired by ANJAC Health & Beauty, a French health and wellness CDMO aiming to bolster its global position in the nutraceutical market.
ANJAC Health & Beauty now brings together 17 complementary companies in health, beauty, personal care and food supplements, with 17 R&D sites and 24 manufacturing facilities across Europe and North America.
With the acquisition of Slovenia-headquartered Health Chain Group (HCG) and its sister companies—PharmaLinea, Hermes Consilium and ErgoPharma—ANJAC aims to open new pathways for advancing product innovation, scientific research and comprehensive service for client brands.
Blaž Gorjup, chairman & founder of PharmaLinea, said the company will be able to accelerate its development of clinically supported concepts and develop new formats and solutions as it will benefit from ANJAC’s extensive infrastructure, cross-sector expertise and R&D resources.
“PharmaLinea and Health Chain Group was founded with a simple yet ambitious goal: to bring more science, integrity and trust to the nutraceutical industry,” he said. “Seeing that vision grow into a group recognized across the world fills me with pride and gratitude.”
ANH-USA pushes FDA to broaden access to medical foods
The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) USA is calling for FDA regulatory reform to broaden access to medical foods, with the aim of using nutrition therapies to help manage chronic disease and other conditions.
The non-profit organization used the release of its Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan to advocate for changes to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s regulations that limit access to medical foods. Specifically, ANH takes issue with the restriction of medical foods to the treatment of rare diseases under the Orphan Drug Act.
Alongside this specific issue, the report noted that the FDA allows for the use of medical foods only with physician supervision, with ANH stating that most doctors receive little to no training in nutrition, and that it does not allow qualified nutrition professionals to be a part of the process.
The term medical foods refers to specially designed food items that meet the specific nutritional needs of individuals with particular illnesses or critical health conditions, and are regulated by the FDA. Robert Verkerk, scientific director at ANH, told NutraIngredients that the medical food market is estimated to be worth $6.2 billion.
ANH outlines that limiting medical foods to rare diseases neglects other areas with high need, such as people living with a chronic disease. To address this, the organization is calling for statutory language that would allow medical foods to address other illnesses, clarify their prescription status and enable reimbursement through Medicare and private insurers, among other pathways.
