“The next steps in personalized health management”: Nestlé Health Science acquires functional medicine platform

07 Jan 2020 --- Atrium Innovations, a Nestlé Health Science (NHSc) company, has acquired technology-based functional medicine platform LivingMatrix in a bid to further bolster its position in the personalized nutrition space. LivingMatrix is data and algorithm-driven and was designed by clinicians to help practitioners effectively evaluate and engage patients, create personalized, actionable care plans and track patient health outcomes. The deal comes as NHSc and other major players in nutrition are boosting their personalization capabilities with a string of acquisitions.

“This acquisition is reflective of the current mission and direction for Atrium Innovations, with support from Nestlé Health Science, to expand our role in personalization within the medical professional and consumer spaces. The addition of LivingMatrix will allow us to take the next steps in leading the future of personalized health management,” says Kyle Bliffert, President of Atrium Innovations.

He continues that the company’s goal is to create the most comprehensive solution in the industry by scaling its personalization platform. This will be by integrating LivingMatrix with Atrium’s existing PureGenomics platform and future healthcare provider patient management systems.

Consumers increasingly expect food and health solutions that are as unique as they are.Personalized nutrition was a key theme in 2019, with consumers increasingly expecting food and health solutions that are as unique as they are. Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy, President and Chief Science Officer at Nutrigenomix, told NutritionInsight that personalized nutrition is more than a passing fad. “The genie is out of the bottle; there isn’t a way of going back to one-size-fits-all.”

Moving into more personalization
As a result of this increasing emphasis, NHSc has been broadening its grasp on personalized nutrition. In November, it partnered with the University of California San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) to reinforce research into the microbiome’s impact on human health. This was part of an investment in long-term research to allow the company to “provide the next generation of personalized nutritional solutions adapted to the individual’s microbiome.” 

NHSc also acquired Persona last August. The business considers specific factors in a consumer’s lifestyle, history and individual needs to develop a personalized vitamin program. 

“Through combining the strength of Persona’s proprietary algorithm, the LivingMatrix data-driven technology and Atrium Innovation’s leadership in industry, we are creating an exciting future for personalized nutrition for professionals and consumers alike,” continues Bliffert.

Meanwhile, DSM has also been rapidly strengthening personalized nutrition as its key strategic pillar. This was most recently seen with the November acquisition of AVA, which provides artificial intelligence (AI)-powered nutritional coaching and recommendations across a wide range of health and wellness segments. This followed partnerships and investments in a variety of other personalized nutrition delivery platforms such as Panaceutics, Mixfit and Tespo. 

The functionality of functional medicine
LivingMatrix is based in San Francisco, US and helps over 600 practices in 22 countries engage in personalized, therapeutic partnerships to address chronic conditions at scale. It is touted as helping practitioners deliver a unique engagement process utilizing various tools, and validated, patient-reported outcomes measures that provide a comprehensive assessment of a patient’s health and objective tracking of patient progress.

“The addition of LivingMatrix to the Atrium Innovations growing personalized medicine portfolio will further elevate the way functional medicine practitioners and patients in our longstanding network view and use healthcare,” says Joy Devins, Chief Strategic Leader of Atrium Innovations.Functional medicine has been met with some controversy in the broader medical world.

Priya Kamani, Founder and CEO of LivingMatrix, adds that the launch of LivingMatrix was a critical turning point for personalized and functional medicine. “Now, with the support of the Atrium Innovations and NHSc family, we look forward to breaking even more barriers. This partnership brings opportunities to scale the business and accelerate our ability to drive and support additional research studies to expand the evidence base for effectively addressing chronic conditions.”

According to LivingMatrix, functional medicine is a movement that addresses chronic disease while looking at each person as an individual. Patients are at the center of this approach and a patient-practitioner therapeutic partnership is central to addressing and potentially reversing the course of chronic disease.

However, this approach revolving around identifying a root cause of ailments has been met with some controversy in the broader medical world. Science-Based Medicine reported that the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) determined that some functional medicine treatments were “harmful and dangerous.” As a result, AAFP has not granted course credits for the teaching of the practice since 2014. 

Edited by Katherine Durrell