The necessity of maintaining good ‘gut health’ is something that is often overlooked by many. Gut health refers to the function and balance of bacteria in numerous parts of the gastrointestinal tract. The reason why it is so crucial to keep your gut health in check is that bad gut health essentially affects the normal functioning of the human body.
The imbalance of bacteria in the gut disrupts both the physical as well as mental health of an individual. Realizing this need of many, Clasado Biosciences came into existence. The company is a leading innovator in the field of GOS technology that delivers clinically proven prebiotic solutions to further human health.
In an interview with Insights Care, Per Rehné, the Chief Executive Officer of Clasado Biosciences, talks about how the company is a pioneer in the research and development of gut microbiome ingredients.
Please brief our audience about Clasado Biosciences, its values, and how the company has been positioned as a leading player in the nutrition space.
Clasado Biosciences is a leading name in prebiotic ingredients for gut health applications, including nutritional supplements, functional foods, and beverages. Clasado aims to make better gut health more accessible around the globe by providing scientifically supported solutions for product developers.
Our vision at Clasado is to be an agile global leader in gut microbiome science, bringing disruptive innovations to market to improve the health and wellbeing of people everywhere. The entire Clasado team is committed to using our united company vision to support our local and global community, the environment, and the more comprehensive health and nutrition market.
Our mission is a passionate and dedicated long-term commitment to leveraging leading gut microbiome science, supporting speed to market and value to our partners, and providing a diverse and great place to work by living our values. As the business continues to extend in size and reach, its value becomes ever more important and helps to define who Clasado is as a brand. Those values are passion, collaboration, integrity, and giving back.
An ever-growing business, based on strong scientific foundations and focused on a united goal, has given Clasado Biosciences an extremely strong foothold in not only the prebiotic ingredient market but also in the wider health and nutrition category.
What products does Clasado Biosciences offer, and how are these impacting the industry and your customers?
Clasado Biosciences is the developer and manufacturer of Bimuno®, a unique and award-winning galactooligosaccharide (GOS) prebiotic ingredient. Designed to make better gut health simple and more achievable, Bimuno is a targeted prebiotic ingredient that offers versatility and stability for product designers and brands and can be added to any food, drink, or existing supplement.
To simplify a complex concept, the proprietary GOS structure of Bimuno travels through the gastrointestinal tract to the gut, where it feeds and nourishes bifidobacteria, a ‘good’ gut bacteria known to support critical areas of physical and mental health.
Trust and transparency are crucial to connecting with today’s consumers, and to the benefit of product developers in the nutrition field, Bimuno is the most studied prebiotic ingredient of its kind. To date, the ingredient is supported by over 90 scientific publications, including more than 20 clinical trials.
Today’s product formulator is looking for stability and versatility when expanding product ranges or developing new solutions to appeal to the growing market for gut care. Bimuno offers this in abundance. Available in powder and syrup formats, the ingredient can be added to recipes and formulations from the very outset as it is resistant to the acidity, heat, pressures, and storage associated with health and nutrition manufacturing.
Gut health is climbing the consumer agenda as we get more attuned and engaged collectively with our health. Studies into gut health reveal that the gut microbiome, the community of ‘good’ and potentially ‘bad’ bacteria in the gut, has a significant relationship with health. These microbes support health and wellbeing in key areas such as immunity, gastrointestinal health, brain function, and cognition, with further studies pointing towards benefits in sports health and athletics.
It’s clear that shoppers are taking a much closer look at prebiotic solutions, marked by the launch of several new high-profile products in the food and drink sector that boast prebiotic fibre as a key selling point.
At Clasado, by developing the most studied prebiotic of its kind and making it available to brands and product developers around the globe, we are playing our part in building better gut health everywhere.
Being an experienced leader, share your opinion on how the adaptation of modern technologies such as AI, big data, and machine learning has transformed the health and wellness industry. What more could be expected in the near future?
One of the most valuable uses of modern technology in health and wellness is the better collection and use of commercial data. Historically, it’s been difficult to connect sales data with real insights due to the manual and offline nature of sales.
However, as we move towards the full maturation of digital and eCommerce platforms, we will get a much sharper and more defined impression of what global consumers are looking for, enabling us to refine our research and development programmes to produce further product innovation.
Taking into consideration the current pandemic and its impact on global economies, how are you driving your company to sustain operations and ensure your employees’ safety at the same time?
Sustainability and safety remain at the heart of our operations. From the very outset of the global pandemic, we have aimed to use our position as a leader in the field to set a great example. We have been able to shift, adapt and develop to changing circumstances, which has stood us in great stead over the last 12 months, operating at a growing capacity.
We are proud to have been one of the first businesses in the UK to switch to a home-based model long before this became more commonplace. We have also been ahead of the curve on hybrid working models, with team members able to split their time between office and home if preferred.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the health and nutrition space?
It is crucial that consumer demands are put front and centre, along with a strong scientific backing. We see the value of this through the rising awareness of gut health and the increased consumer need for products they can trust.
These values are at the heart of Bimuno’s development, which is one of the reasons why the ingredient is finding such a strong footing across the globe. To those looking to enter the health and nutrition space, our best advice would be to focus on a specific need and build a core offering that stands out in a crowded market and build the strongest and most diverse scientific portfolio available.
How do you envision scaling Clasado Biosciences’ operations and offerings in 2021?
Clasado Biosciences is growing its global operations, and we are expecting this momentum to continue at pace. Our proprietary prebiotic GOS ingredient is currently found in products across Europe, Asia, and North America, setting the stage for further expansion into new markets and new applications.
Bimuno, as the most studied prebiotic of its kind, offers product developers a fresh way to expand ranges and penetrate new markets. The ingredient has the potential to help health and nutrition brands forge entirely new product categories with exciting commercial potential.
About the Leader
Per Rehné is the Chief Executive Officer at Clasado Biosciences, responsible for leading the business and guiding its long-term commercial growth and profitability. Per joined Clasado Biosciences in 2019, bringing a great deal of experience across the health and nutrition sector.
Previously holding key positions in global businesses such as Optibiotix Health PLC and Cornelius Group, Per’s expertise in strategic growth helps the business move from strength to strength and, as a result, effect positive change. He is motivated by today’s exciting gut health science, which continues to uncover the gut microbiome’s influence on physical and mental health.
