Spotlight-noterade Carbiotix meddelade under veckan att de inlett ett utvärderingsprojekt med ett globalt laboratorietestbolag avseende tarmhälsotjänsten LinkGut och bolagets koncept smart prebiotics. BioStock kontaktade vd Kristofer Cook för att få veta mer om det nya samarbetet.

Lundabolaget Carbiotix utvecklar den majsklibaserade modulatorn CarbiAxos, nästa generations prebiotiska fiber, och analystjänsten LinkGut, en avancerad laboratoriebaserad tjänst som mäter hälsotillståndet i tarmen.

Utvärderingsprojektet en del i marknadsplanen

De två delarna bildar basen för Carbiotixs smart prebiotics-koncept, som är tänkt att vara en individanpassad metod att reglera intaget av effektiva modulatorer, samtidigt som användaren kan övervaka sin hälsonivå under en längre tid. Ambitionen är att CarbiAxos ska ingå i olika former av livsmedel, drycker och kosttillskott i ett första skede, men på sikt även i medicinsk mat och i medicinska behandlingar.

Som ett steg mot att nå denna ambition har Carbiotix nu inlett ett utvärderingsprojekt avseende såväl smart prebiotic-konceptet som LinkGut-tjänsten. I ett samarbete med en global aktör inom laboratorietester ska man undersöka hur man på ett kostnadseffektivt, tillförlitligt och flexibelt sätt kan anpassa konceptet för en större marknad.

Den icke namngivna samarbetspartnern är en av de fem största bolagen i världen inom området och har en lokal närvaro i över 40 länder. Projektet är en del av den produktlanseringsplan som Carbiotix presenterade under hösten 2021 med siktet inställt på att nå den amerikanska marknaden inom ett år. Läs mer.

Vd kommenterar

BioStock kontaktade vd Kristofer Cook för att höra med om samarbetsprojektet och bolagets planer.

Kristofer, can you tell us more about your project partner?

– I am unfortunately not able to provide more details on the partner in question as we have an agreement in place to keep anonymity during the evaluation project phase. I can say however that I am very pleased with the level of interest this partner has in the collaboration opportunity we are evaluating.

– They also see the how transparency and the personalisation of gut health are trends that are gaining momentum and that our smart prebiotic concept with CarbiAXOS as a backbone prebiotic across multiple modulator classes has the potential to capture significant market share as prebiotics enter an exponential growth phase.

– Given that our core IP lies in the production of CarbiAXOS and its application, teaming up with a global laboratory testing company makes perfect sense as this is where scale and geographic presence matter.

Are you planning to leave Sweden as a base for your laboratory testing?

– Carrying out this evaluation project means in no way that we are considering to eliminate or move our own testing service, personnel or facilities. Quite the opposite in fact. We have to date managed to offer the lowest cost, most reliable and flexible B2B API based gut health testing service on the global market called LinkGut.

– We will continue to make improvements to this service and lower costs, with the input of ideas generated through partner discussions, thus making gut health tracking more accessible to more people around the world.

– This is central in our company mission – to help people consume more prebiotics and validate their effect through low-cost gut health tracking. Our laboratory in Sweden and own testing kits allow us to test and validate different ideas and help solidify our strategic position in any negotiations with external service partners we decide to work with.

»2022 will be a very exciting year for Carbiotix and the start of a new phase in the company’s development«

When will this evaluation project be completed?

– We have stated that the evaluation project will be carried out in 2022. I do not see any scenario where this project is not completed in this timeframe. Moreover, establishing relationships with laboratory service providers will be an important part of our expansion strategy, with of course the launch of CarbiAXOS as a nutraceutical ingredient in the US as our first target application and market.

– I am more confident than ever that this will happen as planned during 2022 and in line with the completion and scale up of our first production site in Bjuv. 2022 will be a very exciting year for Carbiotix and the start of a new phase in the company’s development – a commercial company in the global prebiotic ingredients industry, a market that is worth well in excess of 5 billion EUR today and with over 1 million tons of production globally, and anticipated to grow at a minimum of 10 per cent per annum without even factoring in the type of exponential growth experienced by the probiotic industry over the past 25 years.

– My personal opinion, and one shared by other experts in the industry, is that the prebiotics market will 10x in the next 10 years. This will be driven by a clearer understanding among consumers of the benefits and thus need to increase prebiotic consumption.

– Moreover, this will be supported by high quality prebiotics such as CarbiAXOS and the provision of low cost gut health testing through for example LinkGut, which will allow people to actually see and track the benefits of consuming prebiotics over time.

Finally, how does this collaboration fit in your five-year product road map that you presented last year?

– Our LinkGut service is a core part of our smart prebiotic concept. A prebiotic cannot be smart if a consumer is unable to validate and improve its effect over time. Thus, measuring gut health will always be a part of every modulator we launch, as laid out in our 5-year product road map.

– I go back to cost, reliability and flexibility as the key competitive advantages of our testing service today. Any company that is able to improve one or all of these areas will be a partner we are open to working with as this will ultimately increase the competitiveness of our modulator portfolio.

– Although I believe that this is by no means a zero sums game and the prebiotics industry will go through massive growth, thus leaving room for many companies to ride this “prebiotic tidal wave” over the next 10 years, I still want to capture as much value as possible from this market through solidifying Carbiotix as a leader in the area of smart prebiotics.

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