Nestlé is expanding its tentacles from chocolatier into drug development – investing in companies focused on microbiota, muscle loss and Alzheimer’s disease.
STAT talked with Greg Behar, CEO of the new Nestlé Health Science subsidiary of the company, on the company’s foray into the life sciences.
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The company’s health science subsidiary was launched five years ago, and employs 3,000 people around the world, bringing in revenues of $2 billion. Under its wing are brands like Boost, the protein shake, and Meritene, which includes energy-increasing soup mixes.
It’s disclosed thus far $200 million in investments in biotech, including deals with Seres Therapeutics and Pronutria Biosciences, STAT points out – and took an 18 percent stake in Seres when it went public last year. It writes:
A team from Seres, which is developing products to maintain a healthy microbiome and defeat infections such as C. difficile, updated Behar on its scientific progress during his tour of Cambridge last week.
“We look at them as a pharma company,” Seres CEO Roger Pomerantz said.
Nestlé plans on upping the revenue of this subsidiary fivefold, STAT says. The food empire will continue its strategic investments in the life sciences, having scouted out a handful of biotechs recently in the Boston area.
