Dutch Medical Food debuts in global market amid growing demand

03 Sep 2020 --- Dutch Medical Food is making its debut in the global medical foods market, driven to provide high-quality products with “universal applicability.” The Netherlands-based medical nutrition company makes its timely entry to the scene amid heightened demand for medical foods and a consumer shift toward adopting healthy alternatives, caused by the increasing cost of medical services.

“Unfortunately, consumer understanding of medical foods is still relatively low. Especially during illness, a proper nutritional status is crucial. In the Western world, upon admission to a hospital, approximately one in four patients are at risk or are already malnourished. We will be educating health care professionals and consumers worldwide to improve the knowledge,” Dr. Rolf Smeets, Managing Director at Dutch Medical Food, tells NutritionInsight.Dr. Smeets previously worked for Nutricia/Danone as Chief Medical Officer. 

Making a bid for medical food
Medical food is used for patients with a nutritional need that can not be met with a regular diet. These products should be used under medical supervision. Doctors and dieticians are advising patients on when and how they should use medical foods. New entrants to the market will help to diversify product offerings, the company maintains. “In addition to the conventional medical food products, we are looking into developing innovative solutions for some of the more rare diseases like Prader-Willi Syndrome,” Dr. Smeets details. 

There are myriad factors driving the medical foods market. Dutch Medical Food sees a rise in the geriatric population, increased incidences of chronic and acute diseases and unceasing nutrient deficiencies as some of the key reasons to tap into this lucrative market. Meanwhile, awareness regarding clinical nutrition among patients and healthcare professionals continues to grow.

Dutch Medical Food products may be used in a clinical or in-home setting and are available by physician recommendation or over-the-counter as a supplement to support daily nutritional intake. The company will also manufacture its products in US Food and Drug Administration- (FDA), European Commission- (EC) and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)-compliant facilities.

Preparing for a new market entry
S-Core Pepti is a peptide-based medical food designed to support easy digestion for patients with impaired gastrointestinal function.Dutch Medical Food regards the medical foods market as currently in “the growing phase,”where manufacturers work toward finding innovative products for new disease indications. Dr. Smeets observed “similar growth” in the medical food market compared to the nutrition products sector in the past ten years, and expects it to continue in the upcoming decade considering the need of medical nutrition worldwide is “far from addressed.”

“From a health economic perspective, medical nutrition is very interesting. Several studies show that proper use of medical food can even decrease the health care spending in several patient groups. This should make the growth less sensitive to the economic situation in the world,” Dr. Smeets asserts.

On the topic of facilitating affordable health care via nutrition, NutritionInsight has previously reported on subsidizing healthy foods and translating scientific findings into policy making for preventative care. 

Dutch Medical Food’s current portfolio specializes in nutritional needs of pediatric and adult patients focusing on malnutrition, critical care and surgery, drug-resistance epilepsy and cancer. 

It also targets diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders and digestive impairment, cardiac diseases, sarcopenia, liver diseases, impaired growth in infancy and cystic fibrosis. Its products and services are distributed globally through its headquarters in the Netherlands and subsidiaries in the US, India, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Australia. 

By Anni Schleicher