Avesthagen, Nestle sign research pact

EPP News Bureau - New Delhi

The Bangalore-based Avesthagen and Nestle Nutrition, a unit of Nestle SA the world’s largest food and beverage company have agreed on a research and development programme.

The programme aims to validate the role of nutritional bioactives in foods through research. The collaboration brings together a world-leader in Food (Nestle) with a pioneering technology development company (Avesthagen) to validate using new technologies and to develop a delivery mechanism for the immense body of knowledge that exists within traditional Indian medicine.

The outcome will be a new line of food products that are exclusively developed to promote health, backed by the quality and assurance of Nestle.

According to a press release, the new technology is expected to be ready for incorporation into Nestle’s product portfolio by early 2006. Avesthagen will receive three milestone payments based on the achievement of discovery and development objectives periodically. The intellectual property emerging from the development of new technologies will be shared between the two companies.

Dr Villoo Morawalla Patell, Founder & CEO, Avesthagen adds, ‘‘We are very excited about our collaboration with Nestle and look forward to a mutually productive relationship between our two companies. The development programme signifies Nestle’s confidence in our research capabilities and the validation of our Food for Medicine Research efforts at Avesthagen.’’