Spanish biotech firm Natac Natural Ingredients has formed a research, development and innovation agreement with the IMDEA Nutrition Institute in Madrid.
The agreement aims to jointly develop and validate new natural ingredients with potential health benefits.
The four-year collaboration will focus on nutraceuticals, plant-based extracts and nutricosmetics.
Work under the agreement will centre on generating scientific evidence to support new ingredients.
It will use IMDEA Nutrition’s capabilities for in vitro testing, preclinical research and nutritional intervention studies.
Natac scientific director Esther de la Fuente said: “For us, working with a leading public institute such as IMDEA on the clinical validation of our ingredients and their effects on health is essential, because we always seek to provide our products with solid scientific foundations.”
Natac said the alliance is intended to reinforce its product range by adding further scientific backing, combining its experience in the sustainable manufacturing of botanical extracts and omega-3 oils with IMDEA Nutrition’s research expertise.
The company added that the contract gives a formal structure to a relationship that has been active between the two organisations for several years.
IMDEA Nutrition characterised the agreement as strategic, stating that it brings together scientific know-how with production capacity and industrial application.
Commenting on the alliance, IMDEA Nutrition director Ana Ramírez de Molina added that the alliance “makes it possible to bring the results of our research to society more quickly and to enhance our capabilities in the development of formulations based on the results we obtain, thereby enabling us to be more effective in promoting health through nutrition”.
