Partner Article

OptiBiotix appoints new Commercial Director

OptiBiotix has appointed Per Rehné, an expert in food, health, and nutrition markets, as a Commerical Director, and will join OptiBiotix after serving out his notice with Cornelius. Per has many years of experience in the food industry, having worked for some of the world’s leading food companies including Danisco (acquired by Dupont in 2011 for US$6.3bn), and specialised food ingredient suppliers, including roles as Managing Director of both Frutarom Nordic A/S (A subsidiary of Frutarom Industries Ltd) and Innotaste Nordic A/S.

More recently, Per has worked as European Director of Health and Nutrition at Cornelius Group plc, which under his leadership became the company’s fastest growing business unit, quadrupling sales from a low base to double digit million pound revenues in less than three years.

Per has extensive experience in building business-to-business sales through commercial partnerships and working with manufacturers and distributors to rapidly grow sales revenues in international markets. A proven Commercial Director, he comes with a wide network of contacts in the food industry and a track record of closing out commercial deals.

The human microbiome is an emerging area of healthcare intersecting with food and nutrition studies. OptiBiotix has a range of products in development which modify the human microbiome to prevent, manage, and treat conditions such as obesity and high cholesterol. A number of these products have the potential to be incorporated into probiotics to improve their function. Per’s experience of food, health, and nutrition markets will help drive commercialisation of OptiBiotix’s growing pipeline of products and create multiple revenue streams across all technology platforms.

Stephen O’Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented, “Per’s experience and track record of growing business-to-business sales of ingredients and nutritional products brings operational commercial and industry expertise to OptiBiotix. His network of contacts provides access to new international markets to help drive revenue growth from OptiBiotix’s growing pipeline of products now entering their commercialisation phase. These include OptiBiotix’s patented SlimBiome technology for hunger free weight loss and its LP-LDL probiotic strain for cholesterol and hypertension reduction.”

The human microbiome

The human digestive tract contains a complex and diverse ecosystem of trillions of bacteria. Recently, advances in molecular and analytical techniques (metagenomics, metabolomics) have permitted identification and quantitation of species and strains of bacteria that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract, their metabolic activity, and interactions with the human host. These studies have provided greater insight into the role of gut and their metabolites in health and disease.

NIH https://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp/index

Web MD http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/what-your-gut-bacteria-say-your-health#1

About OptiBiotix

OptiBiotix was formed in March 2012 to develop compounds which modify the human microbiome – the collective genome of the microbes in the body – to prevent and manage human disease.

The aim of OptiBiotix is to discover and develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations, which modulate the human microbiome and can be used as food ingredients and supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic diseases, examples of which include obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution and diabetes.

OptiBiotix has established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression. The development pipeline is fuelled by its proprietary OptiScreen® and OptiBiotic® platform technologies designed to identify metabolic pathways and compounds that impact on human physiology and bring potential health benefits. These platforms are applicable across a wider range of other human diseases.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by VPR .