CPHI 2025: AB-Biotics moves into healthy aging space with precision probiotics
24 Nov 2025 | AB-Biotics
Miguel Bonachera, co-founder of AB-Biotics, presented the company’s latest probiotic innovations, including its new healthy aging portfolio and Pediacare line of biotics for health indications from infancy to adolescence. This line offers solutions to support gut health, skin health, immunity, and cognitive function. Bonachera also detailed AB-Biotics’ approach to developing precision probiotics for targeted health benefits and highlighted the regulatory challenges associated with biotic innovations.
This is Yolande van Gal from Insight.
I'm here at CPI 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany with Michael Bonnacera from A Bionics.
Thank you for joining us today, and I know that you're highlighting your precision biotic solutions across the lifespan at the show this year.
How does your R&D team approach strain selection and formulation to tailor probiotics for all these distinct life stages and health needs?
Actually we've been working in tackling different indications, medical indications, and it's been like this from the very beginning antibiotics.
What we've done is always our R&D team has been focusing, always characterized very all the bacterial strains that we have in our strains collection, and from there we have developed different.
Formulation based on the characteristics of each bacteria.
So with that we do this mechanistic approach, and with that mechanistic approach we start with in vitros, then we go to animal models and we end up with the clinical trials in a very focused way, avoiding any confounding effect and focusing on.
Strain itself and trying to see if that metabolic path that the bacteria can bring on the microbiome is giving us some kind of a solution or an improvement of our quality of life or healthcare.
So it's always a mechanistic approach you can say that.
And I know that you're also showcasing your new pediacare portfolio at the show.
What sets that apart from conventional pediatric pediatric probiotics?
Yes, in pediatrics.
Normally probiotics in general, it's been approaching health, health infants or children, it's fine, but at the end.
Antibiotics has been focusing on pediatrics line very much in the infant college, in the in the health of babies, although it's true that recently we are we just published a new clinical trial on respiratory infections which have been very good results and at the end what we do is we we.
Enhance and we make the body to respond a little faster, so at the end it becomes a very nice new solution in pediatrics, and that's why we are expanding our portfolio a little more in health, respiratory and baby care.
I understand you've also done some age-specific clinical trials to look at healthy aging.
Can you share some new insights that came from there?
Yes, normally what, what, what, what we've done in the healthy aging is to, we have had historically a product that we have positioned for immune enhancement although it was originally studied in the elderly.
OK, so the truth is that what we are doing now is to focus more on leaky gut and, and of course I would say sarcopeia, while trying to to.
To use those mechanistic solutions that we can have from our existing bacteria in applying more in the elderly and we are developing, we have developed some.
Some documentation recently, but we are trying to make a line specifically dedicated to healthy aging, so of course gut inflammation, quality of life, leaky gut.
Also immune enhancement on the elderly is what it is at the end in this line which at the end is giving us a nice.
Solution I would say because this is the real consumers is when they come after a certain age, so.
We feel very, very comfortable with this with the new portfolio on the elderly and this new portfolio, just looking at healthy aging with probiotics specifically, how do you see probiotics fitting into these kinds of longevity, active aging, healthy aging that you were talking about?
What's the role of probiotics there?
At the end.
It's not just probiotics, it's also biotics in general.
What we're trying is to modulate a little bit the microbiome in order to reduce inflammation.
That's the key part is to reduce inflammation.
That's fundamental.
If we can reduce inflammation, we will make we will improve the permeability and we will make it more soft at the end it has an effect on quality of life, which is very significant.
So at the end what we are looking for is to.
To gain quality of life when you when you're getting older.
OK, and then looking into the future, where do you think is the next wave of biotic innovation emerging?
Is it things like precision symbiotics?
Psychobiotics, personalization, or even therapeutic grade postbiotics.
What do you think is the next wave?
Regulatory upgrade, especially in our case where we are tackling medical indications, when you look at our portfolio at the end, we look at things like I would say menopause or stuff that at the end is very specific, so regulatory upgrades are fundamental.
We are getting approved.
We have our cardio strength has 7 has approved.
Health claims in 7 markets, not in Europe at the moment, but of course we are we are getting recognized by many agencies and we are very happy with that.
But it's true that regulatory upgrades are necessary if you want to talk about health.
We think that we should Go in the OTC drug space.
Also, it's true that The If the solution is effective and the patient or the consumer is taking the product and feels better, that's going to be key.
The regulatory status is not going to be what's going to drive that.
It's going to help for them to choose.
It's going to help for companies to promote, but the truth is that what we need is to have a very effective and good quality products with good clinical science, and at the end that's that's in our roots, I would say so.
OK, thank you so much.
