Editor's Spotlight: Startup Focus
Probiotic experts launch startup to tap into burgeoning wellness market
Italian based startup LAC2Biome was launched in October last year by CEO Lasse Nagell and director of global business development Luc Monbourquette, who previously worked together as vice president and sales director of Human Health at Chr. Hansen.
With over 35 years of combined knowledge of the market they have chosen what they consider to be the most fruitful areas of health for probiotic solutions across Europe, the US and China.
"We founded this company because we saw great opportunity in the bacterial space, particularly in non-pharmaceutical applications," Nagell explains.
"Beauty from within and women's health are two areas with a lot of growing science and a lot of opportunity and so these are the areas we have chosen to concentrate on first but we will continue to follow the science and see what other opportunities arise as we look to expand our range of finished products for companies in this space.
"Our aim is to provide solutions backed by science, backed with our sales and marketing expertise and our strong network in this market."
With the probiotics market and the science to support these products developing at such a fast pace, the enterprising duo believe they can bring better-evidenced solutions to the supplements market.
Nagell explains this is especially the case with products focusing on skin health
"Only a few products focus on delivering live bacteria into skincare solutions primarily due to technical challenges in high moisture formulations. With LAC2Biome’s knowledge and network we will bring solutions to this category that will help address some of these core technical challenges. We are very excited about the potential in both these spaces globally."
First acquisitions
The business partners have just acquired their first probiotic strains and associated IP from the Italian pharma company and probiotic leader SOFAR S.p.A.
The acquisition includes Lactobacillus paracasei, LPC-S01 which has been supported by a placebo controlled cross-over study which suggests daily intake of the probiotic can benefit the vaginal microbial ecosyem as it increases the population of the beneficial bacteria L. crispatus and lowers the concentration of certain pathogens.
"Based on expanding scientific understanding of this specific microbial eco-system, the study focused on modulating the vaginal microbiome and showed an increase in key Lactobacilli such as L. crispatus while working at decreasing problematic pathogenic bacteria," Nagell adds.
"This type of study design helps illustrate the potential benefit in balancing the vaginal microbiome with L. paracasei, LPC-S01, which has been shown to be important in helping address a number of vaginal issues."
They also acquired two trademarked strains from the Lactobacillus genus which are said to provide skin health benefits. These are named m.biomeLIVESKIN88 and LATENTSKIN99.
"Through this acquisition we are in the process of launching a studied skincare product that guarantees delivery of high concentrations of our strain m.biomeLIVESKIN88.
"The in vitro data generated on the full formulation, though not yet published has shown benefits in some key areas that we believe are very relevant for the skincare space. While our focus remains on delivering solutions for skincare applications with live bacteria we also see a solid trend utilising (inactivated) bacteria and here we plan to also support this ever expanding space with our studied strain LATENTSKIN99.
"We understand this space remains in its infancy but we see LAC2Biome well positioned based on our knowledge and network in microbial solutions to support and help guide this ever expanding area."
