Cilag GmbH International, a member of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, signed a long-term development agreement with probiotics company Probi.

Expanding consumer interest in probiotics is attracting the attention of the pharmaceutical industry, with drug companies also looking to develop microbiome modulation therapies. 

Therefore it should come as no surprise that drug manufacturers and consumer healthcare divisions of pharma firms are forming partnerships with probiotics companies. The latest deal is between Swedish firm Probi, which is dedicated to the development of probiotics, including LP299V^®, a highly researched strain of Lactobacillus plantarum, and Cilag GmbH International, a member of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. 

Probi was founded in 1991 and holds over 400 patents worldwide. The company has experience in the development of probiotic products with clinically substantiated, health enhancing effects. Probi also offers probiotic expertise and partnership from R&D to finished products for companies, both within the consumer healthcare segment and the food industry.

The long-term development agreement with Cilag is intended to further expand the company’s product development pipeline and enable commercialization of its portfolio of documented strains. The jointly initiated development program will funded by Cilag, with Probi providing its probiotic expertise.

Ole Søgaard Andersen, CEO of Probi commented: “We are very happy to initiate this development program together with a strong global partner in OTC. By combining Probi´s probiotic expertise with the pharma company's development resources and regulatory expertise, we will form a very strong team moving forward together.”