Probi enters immune market after successful common cold clinical study
Shorter common cold periods and a strong reduction of cold symptoms. These were the key results in an extensive clinical study with a new product developed in-house by Probi. The study outcome means Probi will extend its product portfolio and enter the large market for products targeting the immune system. The world immune market in foods and food supplements is estimated to be worth well over 4 billion euro.
”The clinical results are world class and give us a strong platform for product launches in both functional foods and dietary supplements. We will now be able to offer consumers products that improve their immune systems significantly and where they will notice a real positive difference, for instance when dealing with common colds,” says Michael Oredsson, CEO of Probi.
Probi started the development of a tablet containing the new bacterial combination at the end of 2007 and has also developed food products based on the study product. The company expects that initial product launches will take place in 2009.
”Probi’s current business is built on gut health and on a very strong clinical file in this disease area. The immune market, not least common colds, will now also become a large global commercial potential for Probi,” Michael Oredsson adds.
The placebo-controlled, randomised multicenter-study was conducted on 310 volunteers in Berlin by Analyze & Realize on behalf of Probi. The study product is a combination of two new probiotic strains patented by Probi, one within the Lactobacillus plantarum family and one within the Lactobacillus paracasei family.
The severity of total cold symptoms was significantly reduced and was 33% lower in the group that received Probi’s product compared to placebo. Furthermore, the length of cold period was significantly reduced amongst those receiving Probi’s product, 5.6 days compared to 6.7 days in the placebo group. There was also a trend towards a reduction in the number of cold periods for those consuming Probi’s product during the study.
The study participants were unaware if they got Probi’s product or placebo. Despite this, nearly 50% of those consuming Probi’s product considered it to be very effective and just over 20% considered it effective. The corresponding assessment by those randomised to placebo was considerably lower and almost no one in this group considered the treatment to be very effective.
By analysis at a cellular level in blood, Probi has previously seen indications that the two probiotic strains have different beneficial effects on the immune system. Certain markers were upregulated, providing a protective immune effect, and other markers were downregulated, preventing immune responses that give unpleasant symptoms.
Probi reported in October 2007 that a Swedish clinical study with the new product had shown a general reduction of common cold symptoms. In the Berlin study, results were considerably stronger and clearer since the recruitment criterion “high propensity to get common colds” was added for study participants. This criterion was not included in the Swedish study.
For more information, please contact:
Michael Oredsson, CEO, tel. +46 46 286 89 23 or mobile +46 707 18 89 30.
e-mail: michael.oredsson@probi.se