Nestlé creates new bond between food and pharma

The world’s largest food concern, Nestlé, has announced a major initiative to prevent and treat health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

The company, which is based at Vevey on Lake Geneva, said on Monday it was creating two separate organisations to develop personalised health science nutrition.

It would invest “hundreds of millions of francs” over the next decade to build a world-class Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences to research nutritional strategies to improve health and longevity.

A statement said the institute would be based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, where Nestlé is already involved in two life science initiatives.

Nestlé Health Science, which will become operational from January 1, will incorporate the existing global Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition business, which had a turnover of SFr1.6 billion ($1.63 billion) in 2009.

The company said the new unit would have 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.

“The combination of health economics, changing demographics and advances in health science show that our existing healthcare systems, which focus on treating sick people, are not sustainable and need redesigning,” commented Nestlé chairman Peter Brabeck.
“Nestlé has the expertise, the science, the resources and the organisation to play a major role in seeking alternative solutions,” he added.