The product will form part of the NIDO range formulated for 1-3 year-olds, which already contains patented prebiotic PreBio1, and will be sold mainly in emerging markets from March or April onwards.
“We are pleased and excited about this cooperation and look forward to working with Nestlé with the launch of the new product with L. reuteri Protectis”, said Peter Rothschild, president of BioGaia.
The company claims that the probiotic, a patented new strain of lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri, has health-enhancing effects for infants and toddlers, and can be particularly effective in preventing infections among children over the age of one.
A 2014 BioGaia study (see here) led by Pedro Gutierrez found that daily administration of L. reuteri Protectis could reduce the frequency of diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections. Gutierrez followed 336 healthy children aged between 6-36 months during both the 3-month intervention and 3-month follow-up period.
A profitable partnership for BioGaia
Nestlé signed a €50.8m deal for clinical research and new product development with BioGaia in February 2012. The Swedish firms 2014 financial report claimed it ‘a successful year’ with sales growth of 22% and around €15m in profit after tax, nearly half of which came from Nestlé licensing fees.
“BioGaia has been working with Nestlé for several years now and we see them as a long-term partner. There will most probably be future business opportunities to come,” said Urban Strindlov, executive vice president of BioGaia.