March 29, Wageningen, The Netherlands. NutriLeads, a Dutch Health Ingredients company announces that its NUTRI-NEED project has been selected for €2.5 million funding under the European Innovation Council SME Instrument (phase 2). The aim of the 2-year project is to prepare NutriLeads’ health promoting food ingredient NL-01 for commercialization. NutriLeads is a dynamic clinical-stage Health Ingredients company that develops crop-derived food ingredients with clinically proven health benefits for specific patient and consumer groups. NutriLeads’ most advanced product, NL-01, is a unique proprietary carrot-derived fibre under development to support immune function and improve resistance to respiratory infections. It has been successfully tested in preclinical models and in a proof of concept study in healthy volunteers. It is currently being studied in a clinical trial to assess its protective effect against an experimental common cold infection.
Ruud Albers, NutriLeads’ CEO comments: “The NUTRI-NEED project will accelerate the development of our food ingredient NL-01 and specifically it will allow NutriLeads to further scale-up the production process, obtain market access for Europe, perform a large clinical study in older adults (65+) with increased infection risk and prepare NL-01 for commercialization.”
The international jury of investors, entrepreneurs and business experts involved in the assessment of the proposals commented on the NUTRI-NEED project: “The idea, if successful, has huge potential to disrupt the market. It also has the potential to enhance Europe’s standing in the health supplement market vis a vis the United States. The IPR strategy is strong and well-implemented. The project has a very impressive team coming from the big players in the industry. They are experts in diverse fields that complement each other within the team.”