Nestle Health Science Develops Brain Health Portfolio With New Acquisition
Nestle Health Science has acquired a stake in a US firm Accera, to support the ongoing trials and rollout of the firm’s key brand, Axona, a medical food intended for the clinical dietary management of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, already on the market in the US. Axona fits the company’s ambition to develop a strong portfolio of nutrition-based solutions to manage and prevent disease.
Accera is a privately-held US-based company which specialises in the research, development and commercialisation of medical foods for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s which affects more than 30 million people worldwide. The terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
“Our stake in Accera is a strategic step forward in building up our brain health portfolio,” says Nestle Health Science president and chief executive Luis Cantarell. “Axona is an innovative medical food with a well understood mode of action and offers the potential for personalised nutrition for AD patients.”
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common adult form of dementia and results in chronic and irreversible cognitive impairment. As AD progresses, the brain becomes less able to use glucose for the energy it needs.
Accera’s ongoing clinical trials show that Axona is metabolised by the liver to produce ketone bodies, which are naturally occurring compounds the brain can use as an alternative energy source. This results in improved memory and cognitive function in mild to moderate AD patients. Axona is already on the market in the US, prescribed to up to 30,000 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s.
Nestle has many years of experience researching the relationship between nutrition and cognitive function.
Nestle Health Science, a fully owned subsidiary of Nestle, aims to pioneer a new industry between the traditional nutrition and pharmaceutical industries through the development of science-based personalised nutritional solutions and shaping a new approach to disease prevention and management.
Building on its core HealthCare Nutrition business, Nestle Health Science has ambitions to address chronic conditions in the area of Gastrointestinal Health, Metabolic Health and Brain Health.
