Blis, Danish company to release health enhancing bacteria

By NZPA

Thursday 21st November 2002

Blis Technologies is joining with a European food ingredients company to launch another bacteria product.

Blis Bio Restore, a probiotic which replenishes beneficial oral and intestinal bacteria killed during a course of antibiotics, will be available in New Zealand next February or March.

Kelvin Moffatt, chief executive of the publicly-listed Blis Technologies, said collaborating with Denmark based Danisco would help get Bio Restore and the company's K12 throat guard internationally registered and distributed.

Germany would be the focus for both products after New Zealand.

The K12 throat guard was launched in May. It replaces bacteria which can cause throat disease with beneficial bacteria.

Mr Moffatt said Bio Restore was driven by demand from pharmacists for a product to replenish beneficial intestinal bacteria after using antibiotics.

Bio Restore was developed by Fonterra and the licence sold to Danisco last year.

Mr Moffatt said Blis searched for a probiotic that was scientifically proven and settled on Bio Restore, which it will sub-licence off Danisco.

"This one is driven by the market," he said.

It will be sold as a sachet in a package with K12 lozenges.

Mr Moffatt said it did not come from the hundreds of bacteria products identified by Blis founder and University of Otago microbiologist John Tagg and now owned by Blis Technologies.

The potential market for Bio Restore was huge. He said 2.9 million New Zealanders alone were prescribed antibiotics every year.

Copenhagen-based Danisco is the world's largest supplier of food ingredients and last year earned revenue of more than $3.2 billion.

Blis is also refining the research behind a product that helps protect against tooth decay and aims to complete clinical trials within a year.

It has provisional patents on the beneficial bacteria.

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