RNS & Investor News

LPLDL® Exclusive European License Agreement

06 March 2018

OptiBiotix Health plc (AIM: OPTI), a life sciences business developing compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes and skin care, announces that it has entered into a production and commercialisation agreement with Fine Foods & Pharmaceuticals N.T.M. S.p.A ("Fine Foods"). The agreement grants Fine Foods an exclusive license for the production and supply of five formulations containing OptiBiotix's LPLDL® strain in Europe in return for royalty payments and a commitment to maximising the financial return for both parties.

Fine Foods is based in Italy and has more than 30 years' experience in the design, development and manufacture of customised formulations and presentations for the pharmaceutical and food supplement industry. With revenues of €120m in 2017, it is one of Europe's largest and fastest growing providers of food supplements and pharmaceutical products, with full GMP certified production facilities and leading pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Bayer, Sanofi etc reported as customers on its website.

Fine Foods has an international reputation and world leading expertise in developing unique formulations and presentations containing probiotic strains. Under the terms of the agreement, Fine Foods have an exclusive license to produce and commercialise five new formulations containing OptiBiotix's LPLDL®. One for glucose control, one for reduction of high blood pressure, one for reduction of cholesterol levels and two for the reduction of cardiovascular risk. These proprietary formulations will be marketed in innovative presentations including sachets and 'melt in the mouth' sticks, to their extensive European network in both the pharmaceutical and food supplement industry.

This agreement is another step in a business to business (B2B) strategy of bringing OptiBiotix's science together with partner's expertise and market reach to create multiple product opportunities to serve consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical markets around the world.

Stephen O'Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: "We are pleased to announce this exclusive license agreement with Fine Foods for the production and commercialisation of five new proprietary formulations containing OptiBiotix's LPLDL®. This agreement extends the range of products and presentations containing OptiBiotix's LPLDL® and creates an opportunity to access global pharmaceutical markets with an established industry supplier. We chose Fine Foods due to its industry experience, reputation, rapid revenue growth, and impressive client list of global customers in both the Pharmaceutical and Food Supplement sectors. We believe our strategy of identifying and building partnerships with industry leading partners like Fine Foods, provides the best opportunity of rapidly building revenue streams, and establishing LPLDL® as a leading global brand."

Giorgio Ferraris, CEO of Fine Foods, commented: "We are very excited to enter this agreement with OptiBiotix, which will allow us to promote specific formulations and presentations containing the innovative OptiBiotix's LPLDL® strain to customers active in the growing market segment of Cholesterol and Blood pressure reduction, as well as Cardiovascular risk. We believe this a unique opportunity for us to expand our commercial presence in the European Food Supplement industry, and has the potential to favourably enhance our existing rate of growth over the coming years."

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR).

 

For further information, please contact:

OptiBiotix Health Plc
Stephen O'Hara, Chief Executive
www.optibiotix.com
Contact via Walbrook below
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP
Liam Murray / Jo Turner
Tel: 020 7213 0880
finnCap Broker
Adrian Hargrave / Scott Mathieson / Kate Bannatyne (Corporate Finance)
Tony Quirke (Corporate Broking)
Tel: 020 7220 0500
Walbrook PR Ltd
Anna Dunphy
Tel: 020 7933 8780 or [email protected]
Mob: 07876 741 001

 

About OptiBiotix - www.optibiotix.com

OptiBiotix was formed in March 2012 to develop compounds which modify the human microbiome - the collective genome of the microbes in the body - to prevent and manage human disease.

The aim of OptiBiotix is to discover and develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations, which modulate the human microbiome and can be used as food ingredients and supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic diseases, examples of which include obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution and diabetes.

OptiBiotix has established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression. The development pipeline is fuelled by its proprietary OptiScreen® and OptiBiotic® platform technologies designed to identify metabolic pathways and compounds that impact on human physiology and bring potential health benefits. These platforms are applicable across a wider range of other human diseases.