2024-04-23
Erik Deaner, CEO of Carbiotix AB, discusses the company's work in microbiota research with its product Carbersol. By providing high-quality soluble fibers to the dietary supplement industry, Carbiotix aims to combat the global fiber shortage. The company strengthens its position through the NutraCycle service that converts waste products into valuable fibers, promoting a healthier diet and sustainable production.
Can you describe Carbiotix and your business to our readers?
We are a company focused on improving the microbiota in the stomach and intestines of humans by adding as much soluble fiber to people's diets as possible, we achieve this through our product Carbersol for companies in the dietary supplement and cosmetics industry and upcycling services NutraCycle for food and ingredient manufacturers. To validate the effects of Carbersol, we have LinkGut, which is a white label microbiota test, which is used by, among others, CROs, dietary supplement and other health promotion companies. Carbersol is a complex soluble fiber upcycled from various side streams from food and ingredient manufacturing, soluble fiber is food for bacteria. The problem that exists is that 90% of all adults lack up to 80% of their daily recommended intake of soluble fiber, this deficiency contributes to an increased number of metabolic and chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes.
Through our NutraCycle service, we offer food and ingredient manufacturers the ability to upcycle and extract complex soluble fiber from their residual waste on site, which they can add to their product. With NutraCycle, our customers increase the value of their residual waste and give them the opportunity to create a healthier product and reduce the need for added sugar as the fiber has a natural sweetness. We can adapt Carbersol to our customers' needs, through different types of mixtures and filtrations, we produce the "food" that best suits the bacteria that our customers want to grow and thus obtain different health-promoting properties, all of which the customer can also validate with the help of LinkGut.
Which markets and regions are particularly interesting for your growth, and how do you intend to penetrate them?
The EU and the US are the clear markets we prioritize, partly because we have a good understanding of the markets but also because they constitute the larger share of the soluble fiber market. We are working on existing contacts we have made over the years but what I believe will be most important is participation in the trade fairs and therefore we will be exhibiting at some of the world's largest trade fairs VitaFoods Europe in Geneva between 14 and 16 May, IFT First in Chicago between 14 and 17 July and SupplySide West in Las Vegas between 28 and 31 October.
Can you clarify what is happening with the pre-sales that were mentioned in connection with CarbiAxos' GRAS SA approval? Any update in the cosmetics area?
We have been approached by many companies over the past few years asking about our prebiotics, we are now in a position to reach out to these companies and provide samples for formulation work, starting with smaller companies who naturally have a shorter sales cycle. This strategy also applies to potential cosmetic customers, although the number is more limited so far. However, we will be promoting Carbersol to both potential dietary supplement and cosmetic customers with our online and in-person marketing activities.
How is the EU application for the diabetes study going? On July 6, 2023, it was announced that this was expected in the first quarter of 2024?
As we have communicated previously, we will continue to refine our EU application and resubmit it as we receive feedback from the EU and other partners. In practical terms, this means that the application will evolve over time and become stronger. Today, only about 3% of applications receive funding, so it will be a challenge to get our application funded, but we will continue to resubmit versions until we are successful. Conducting our clinical studies is very costly, and we will only conduct the planned study if we receive funding and do not have to draw down our own funds. However, it is important to remember that this study will support the use of Carbersol as a co-treatment. This in an application that is considered a “long-term” value driver for Carbiotix and does not impact our ability to grow all three current product and service business areas in the short to medium term.
Can you provide an update on the collaboration with the top 10 ranked probiotics company that was announced on May 10, 2023?
We definitely see Carbersol as an important part of synbiotics (the combination of prebiotics and probiotics). We continue to work with the company in question and will step up the activities in terms of studies and product development work. When we have something concrete to communicate in the form of collaborations, study results, etc.... We will come back to the market. Overall, I am very pleased with the development.
Looking ahead to 2024, what are your main goals?
2024 is an exciting year, we have several projects in the pipeline across our three business areas (NutraCycle with a company that has a turnover of 2 billion USD, Synbiotics development with top 10 probiotics companies and CRO/clinical studies that have opened up with IVDR/CE approval). This will contribute to getting case studies in place which generates credibility and a natural attraction towards us which will mean that several projects can be initiated. The goal is also to get to a point in the above-mentioned projects where we can invoice significant amounts.
We thank Erik Deaner for his time and look forward to following the company's continued development.
Disclaimer:
This is an interview that has been done on behalf of the company. Impala Nordic or people behind Impala Nordic owns no shares in the company at the time of the interview.
