BioGaia, Novartis Consumer Health SA sign global exclusivity agreement

The agreement gives Novartis rights within the medical nutrition industry to use BioGaia’s health bacteria, Reuteri, and BioGaia’s delivery technologies.

25/01/06 BioGaia AB has signed a global exclusivity agreement with Novartis Consumer Health SA of Switzerland. The agreement gives Novartis rights within the medical nutrition industry to use BioGaia’s health bacteria, Reuteri, and BioGaia’s delivery technologies. The agreement is to be implemented by Novartis Medical Nutrition a business unit of Novartis Consumer Health SA.

Novartis Medical Nutrition had a turnover in 2004 of 1.12 billion USD. Novartis Medical Nutrition offers a complete range of oral nutrition and enteral tube feeding products and devices tailored to the needs of consumers, patients and healthcare professionals. Under the agreement, Novartis will develop and launch medical nutrition products incorporating Reuteri and BioGaia’s existing delivery technology, and the two organisations will cooperate to develop new products especially adapted for the this market.

BioGaia is a biotechnology company that develops, markets and sells probiotic products with documented health effects. The products are primarily based on the lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri (Reuteri), which has probiotic or health-enhancing effects. The Parent Company BioGaia AB’s class B share is quoted on the O list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

http://www.biogaia.se/public/documents/Press_Releases_ENG/060124eng.pdf