NIU’s Global Round-up: Bayer Consumer Health opens 1st R&D center in China, Baze expands in Europe, and more

Europe​

Baze readies for 2020 European debut ​

Baze, which launched its DIY blood testing service to determine nutrient levels and deliver customized supplement packages in the US in 2018, is coming to Europe.     

“We are planning to launch in early 2020 in Europe,” ​Philipp Schulte, Baze CEO and co-founder, told NutraIngredients-Europe. “We are in discussions with European supplement makers and there is a great level of interest.”​

The firm recently received $6m via a Series A fundraising round led by US supplements giant, Nature’s Way.

Despite its European origins and base, Baze launched in the US first via its Boston office because it reckoned the personalized nutrition market was more advanced there, but Schulte observed Europe was moving ahead, especially with the likes of Nestlé investing heavily in the sector.

“Europe has been a few years behind but it is catching up fast and we are very excited about launching here.”​

For more on this story, please click HERE​​.

Asia​

Bayer opens first Chinese R&D center to tap growing sports nutrition and personalization trends​

Bayer Consumer Health said the increasing awareness of self-care, rising living standards, ageing population, and healthier lifestyles of Chinese consumers had created a large opportunity for China’s health food market.

The company’s first APAC R&D Center is located in Qidong, Jiangsu Province in China and will focus on formulation and analytical development to produce new health foods to help consumers achieve better care in their daily health.

Wei Li, head of Bayer Consumer Health China Development Centre told NutraIngredients-Asia the center would house professionals from different scientific disciplines, such as pharmaceutical chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, pharmaceutical engineering, etc to innovate health foods and accelerate new product launches.

“The Chinese consumer is evolving in a fast pace. China merits its own dedicated R&D facilities as we could be able to access local knowledge in terms of the consumer, the retail environment and to support local brands as well as introduce our global power brands to China,”​ added Sharon James, head of research & development at Bayer Consumer Health.

For more on this, please click HERE​​.

LATAM​

Brazil’s Active Pharmaceutica has teamed up with Netherlands-based BioActor to promote and distribute the Dutch company’s proprietary sports performance ingredient in Brazil.

Under their partnership agreement, Dutch BioActor will see its proprietary sports performance ingredient, WATTS’UP, targeted at, and distributed in, the compounding pharmacy market in Brazil.

Speaking about the partnership, BioActor’s CEO, Hans van der Saag, reveals that the duo first met at an event in Geneva, where Active Pharmaceutica was looking for a sports nutrition ingredient with clinical studies and strong science.

Identifying Brazil as its first entry point, van der Saag went on to explain that: “​The Brazilian market is rapidly growing and very demanding on the level of scientific substantiation.”​

For more on this, please click HERE​​.