The Swiss food giants new clinical development unit will centralise the planning and management of clinical trials and fundamental research projects – helping the company to better structure its clinical trials and meaning it is a better position to mine for the industry gold that is a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)-approved health claim.
Speaking with NutraIngredients, Rafael Crabbé, head of the new unit said whilst EFSA regulations were not the reason why the company has opened the research centre, the new unit will mean Nestlé has centrally based experts to assist the company’s research departments when they wish to put together new trials relating to specific health claims.
Crabbé said the EFSA claims procedure is a process that Nestlé “wants to be best armed to do in the future.”
“It’s obvious that with this unit we want to be better armed to go after health claims by EFSA than we were before,” he revealed. “On the other hand, the idea is to be more efficient and efficacious to increase the quality standards.”
Global strategy
Crabbé explained that the new clinical development unit will also help Nestlé expand its global reach and better adapt its products to global regulatory needs.
“You could have a very interesting product in China, and your clinical studies can fit all the requirements for the Chinese authorities. But, that’s not necessarily the case for Europe.
“Sometimes by just adding a few things to a trial in China you can also meet the requirements in Europe. And if you globalise everything you can make sure that your trials are designed to meet the requirements for the maximum of markets.”