July 21, 2004

Benecol to reach emerging Indian market

Indian biotech firm Avesthagen said this week that it has signed an agreement with Finland's Raisio group to market its cholesterol-lowering product Benecol in India.

The Bangalore-based firm is said to be in talks with several potential customers there, according to national press reports. Raisio was not available for comment.

India’s functional foods market is still very small but as the food industry develops it could offer significant opportunity for functional food makers.

Domestic firm Dabur Foods said earlier this year that it was planning to start developing functional food products aimed at cardiac and diabetes patients.

CEO Amit Burman told the Economic Times that demand for such foods could surge once consumers adopt packaged foods and shed pre-conceived notions of packaged foods having preservatives.

There are an estimated 20-25 million diabetes patients in the country. The impact of heart disease and stroke on countries in the developing world is also far greater than has been estimated, killing almost three times as many people of working age in India as in the US, according to recent research from the Center for Global Health and Economic Development.