KEY INTERVIEW: Appointment of New Chairman Demonstrates the Potential of Nuritas

01 Feb 2016 --- NutritionInsight spoke to Emmet Browne, CEO of Nuritas, about the new appointments of Dr George Gunn as Chairman and Steve Morrison and Dr Dominique Bridon as members of the advisory board, and what this says about Nuritas as a global company.

Nuritas is an Irish start-up company founded in 2014, which uniquely uses data mining in the form of artificial intelligence and DNA analysis to provide access to peptides – amino acid molecules – which can be used in a wide range of foods and health products, from skin products to functional foods to pharmaceuticals. Peptides are obtained from natural food sources, providing solutions to issues such as inflammation, aging and muscle recovery.

Browne joined Nuritas in 2015 with more than 25 years experience in the pharmaceutical and nutrition fields, with previous companies including Pfizer Nutritionals and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

So what do these new appointments say about Nuritas as a company? Browne says, “There’s a global acceptance that the worlds of healthcare and food are changing and having someone like George on board is going to be a huge advantage to us.”

“He’ll bring so much breadth with all the experience he has, from human and animal nutrition into consumer health and pharmaceuticals, which are all areas of interest for us. We have a platform where we are capable of finding peptides faster and better than anybody else out there and I think to bring that platform to different industries is key.”

“Having George on board sends a very clear message about our organisation; that someone just retired at that level from Novartis is now working with us shows the type of people we’re attracting to us and the opportunity they see.”

The fact that someone with Gunn’s amount of experience and the wide range of career choices he has is willing to work within the company certainly seems to shows the potential of Nuritas. As Browne says, “We aim to be a very significant global company and these are the people who will help us think big and execute supremely.”

“The key for us is prioritisation within the areas we work in already. We can bring our peptides to so many areas, so within that platform we have four specific areas – anti-inflammation, antimicrobials, anti aging and muscle recovery, and when you start looking at the number of choices for what we can do with that, it’s really quite extensive. We want to focus on the key ones, which the wisdom and knowledge of these new advisors will help us with. Dominique for instance has over 25 years of experience in peptide development and commercialisation which will be instrumental in narrowing and fine-tuning our focus. We also have a number of health claims in the pipeline. Our pipeline is vast and these appointments are all about how we point ourselves at the best, most meaningful and impactful areas.”

“Steve has great experience with achieving EFSA health claims and this is in line with our intention to have the strongest scientific validation available in a field where current technology makes this all but impossible for other companies. We will deliver strong scientifically validated claims, so for the consumer that wants natural but also wants proof of efficacy, that’s what Nuritas is about.

“We had a very large investment just before Christmas and our ambition now is to go back down to the data mine again and we look forward to coming back out and telling people what we’ve done.”

It’s a great way to start the year – we are showing that we’re moving outside of an Irish and a European context to play on the world’s stage. These appointments and others will secure our place out there much faster than we might otherwise have done.”

By Coriander Stone

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