Surprising source for an HIV therapy, but perhaps not on reflection.
Danone hails HIV trial breakthrough
By Andrew Jack and Jenny Wiggins in London and Scheherazade in Paris Daneshkhu
Published: September 15 2009 19:34 | Last updated: September 15 2009 19:34
Danone, the French food company, on Tuesday claimed a breakthrough in a medical nutrition trial targeting the immune system of HIV patients, in the latest effort by consumer food businesses to diversify into the lucrative niche of health-related products.
Danone said that the trial could lead in several years to the development of a nutritional product aimed at improving the immune system of the stomach of people with HIV.
Danone’s other potential products include a drink aimed at those with Alzheimer’s disease for which it launched a trial last year.
The initiatives reflect a growing desire to target high-margin, quasi-medicinal products without the extensive clinical trials required by regulators from pharmaceuticals companies.
However, the European Food Safety Authority is gearing up to publish reviews on whether the evidence justifies the health claims made on hundreds of products.
Flemming Morgan, president of Nutricia, the medical nutrition division of Danone, said: “The evidence is now building that medical nutrition may be able to make a difference in the lives of patients not only in HIV but across a broad spectrum of immune-related conditions.”
The company’s medical nutrition division, acquired as part of the acquisition of Numico in 2007, accounts for just 6 per cent of group sales. But unlike Danone’s core yoghurt and waters business, it has proved relatively safe from the economic downturn.
“It is easily the business within their portfolio with the best long-term potential,” said Warren Ackerman, analyst at Evolution Securities. “We think this unit has the potential to deliver 15 per cent underlying growth with margins in the region of 25-30 per cent.”
He said that Danone’s success in this area may encourage PepsiCo to try to acquire the French company again.
Although food companies make all kinds of products claiming to have broader health benefits such as lowering cholesterol or easing digestion, few have directly targeted serious medical conditions like HIV. Unilever last year dropped plans to use a slimming extract based on the southern African Hoodia plant in a range of diet drinks. |
