Oxford Nutrascience (AIM: ONG) said it launched two new chewy confectionery products that use its proprietary fortified chewy formulation and signed a manufacturing agreement with French confectionery maker Lamy Lutti.
One chew is a cranberry supplement and the other is a children’s confectionery chew containing prebiotic fibre, omega-3 and vitamins A, C, D and E. The launch of the chews provides further validation of the company’s proprietary technology which uses soluble fibres to enable functional ingredients such as vitamins and minerals to be added without compromising taste, texture and stability.
The company has pending UK and European patent applications for the technology and these two new products are the first applications of the company's technology to be brought to market, it said in a statement.
The two products will be available to consumers during the second half of 2010 as part of the group's own product range and are being made available to other over-the-counter consumer healthcare companies seeking to use Oxford Nutrascience's confectionery technology.
The launch of the chews follows the recent signing of an exclusive manufacturing agreement with Lamy Lutti of France, one of the largest confectionery manufacturers in Europe which produces 53,000 tonnes of confectionary products a year and has a turnover of approximately €130 million.
In addition to the two new chews announced today, Lamy Lutti is working with Oxford Nutrascience to develop more new chews using the company's proprietary technology.
The partnership with Lamy Lutti provides a scaleable production facility and also allows the company to expand its chew development capability. Further chews are due to be brought to market during 2011.
Chief executive Nigel Theobald commented: "The launch of these two new chews is part of Oxford Nutrascience's stated strategy of exploiting our nutraceutical and taste-masking technology by increasing our range of vitamin chews. At last week's Vitafoods trade show in Switzerland we had exciting levels of enquiries in our chews from both distributors and international over-the-counter consumer healthcare companies who are interested in working with our technology.”
Oxford Nutrascience is a UK consumer healthcare company that develops chewy confectionery, chewable tablets and liquid suspensions to allow medicines and vitamin supplements to be taken in a more pleasant and convenient way.
Oxford Nutrascience has developed technology for the use of soluble fibres in medicine delivery systems that disperse and solubilise medicines, improve taste and mouth feel, simplify processing and eliminate additives, incorporate prebiotic health benefits.
The group currently produces Ellactiva, a calcium chewy supplement sold in the UK and in the Middle East, and plans to launch new chews to complement this existing product. The target market for Oxford Nutrasciences' Chewitabs and liquid suspension delivery systems are over-the-counter pain relieving drugs, indigestion preparations and cough and cold medicines.