Botanicals at medicine forefront

Botanical medicine Zurich – Agencies The world's biggest food group Nestle is moving into traditional Chinese medicine by joining forces with Chinese pharma group Chi-Med. The Swiss group announced on Wednesday that the new company is called Nutrition Science Partners (NSP) and will is be owned equally by the two parties, although Nestle did not reveal any of the financials behind the deal it explained that NSP will research, develop, make and sell nutritional and medicinal products derived from botanical plants. Traditional Chinese plant-based medicines represented between 30 percent and 40 percent of all pharmaceutical sales in China. Initially, the product focus will be on gastro-intestinal health- a market worth up to $6 billion (4.6 billion euros) according to Chi-Med, who said that the deal, which is still subject to regulatory approvals, will bring "A stream of novel botanical medicines and nutritional products to market and in so doing build significant value for patients and for our shareholders." “This joint venture provides Nestle Health Science with an opportunity to develop and commercialise truly innovative and scientifically validated botanical-based nutrition for personalised gastro-intestinal healthcare,” Nestle Health Science head Luis Cantarell said.