OptiBiotix Health PLC (LON:OPTI) shares rose on Wednesday as it appears to be making significant commercial headway with its next-generation sweetener.
Investors were told it has reached an outline deal with an unnamed US firm, which has funded pilot production of two batches of the SweetBiotix sweet fibre product.
READ: OptiBiotix Health chief outlines critical new SlimBiome distribution deal
“Once a binding commercial agreement has been reached, this will be announced to the market,” the company said.
At the same time, it disclosed it is in late-stage discussions with a global partner to jointly develop a lower sugar, lower calorie product.
The deals mooted are in addition to those already brokered by OptiBiotix.
Wider reach
In the same announcement, the firm said the latest data it published on its next-generation sweetener “stimulated interest from a wider range of partners”.
To recap, gut model studies showed OptiBiotix’s sweeteners enhanced the gut microbiome, significantly increasing the number and activity of bacterial species typically associated with good gut health.
In doing so, they outperformed traditional flavour enhancers such as stevia and mogrosides. The results were presented at the ProBiota conference last month.
“[They] are, to the best of our knowledge, the first reports of high intensity derived sweeteners impacting on the gut microbiome,” the company said.
“This functionality, published at a major scientific conference, has stimulated interest from a wider range of partners looking for functionality and health benefits in their products.”
In afternoon trading, shares in Optibiotix were 3.7% higher at 81.10p.
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