FDBusiness.com

Prometheus Laboratories, a company acquired by Nestle Health Science, has presented new research that confirms the effectiveness of its new diagnostic test designed to improve treatment management for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The test is designed to predict inflammatory bowel disease activity and measure the impact of infliximab, a drug used by patients to help prevent inflammation.

Over time, some of them become less responsive to the drug so it is vital for medical practitioners to be able to diagnose this early on so a different course of treatment can be found. The data, reported by the company at this year’s Digestive Disease Week event in San Diego, in the United States, provides evidence of the effectiveness of the company’s new monitoring test which will be launched later this year.

Nestle Health Science acquired Prometheus Laboratories mid 2011. Prometheus specialises in diagnostics and in-licensed specialty pharmaceuticals in gastroenterology and oncology and focuses on conditions such as IBD.

The test should help ensure patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disorders can be treated effectively. These include ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease which typically cause abdominal pain, fever and diarrhoea.

IBD is clinically difficult to diagnose and manage, with many patients requiring long term medical care. Currently the disease has no cure.  Recent statistics from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America estimate that about 1.4 million people in the country suffer from the disease.

The new research into how to manage IBD supports Nestlé Health Science’s long-term vision and ambition to develop science-based personalised nutritional solutions. The company, established last year, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nestlé.

Building on its core HealthCare Nutrition business, Nestlé Health Science offers nutritional solutions for people with specific dietary needs related to illnesses, disease states or special challenges of different life stages. Nestlé Health Science has access to external scientific and technological know-how through Nestlé’s innovation network as well as a number of venture capital funds in which the group has interests.