Lonza announces collaborations and pilot study results

Life sciences company Lonza has announced collaboration agreements with two prominent innovation clusters in France and Italy, as well as the publication of two early pilot studies conducted in tandem with Lipogen.

Medicen Paris Region, one of Europe’s biggest life sciences and healthcare clusters, aims to highlight and reinforce the Paris Region as Europe’s leading industrial centre for medical devices innovations and health technologies. BioPmed Innovation Cluster in Italy meanwhile promotes and develops the use of different technological solutions from many companies to address unmet medical needs. Lonza will offer cluster members technical presentations and workshops on specific Lonza technologies and will share its expertise in a range of early-stage product development topics.

“These collaboration agreements will benefit Lonza by giving us a better understanding of the mid- and long-term strategies of the biotech industry in Europe,” said Anne Hays, head of Lonza’s Custom Development Services Organization. “We will also get an early look at potential technology in-licensing opportunities and learn about new therapeutic and technological developments to benefit patients.”

Lonza has also revealed the results of two early pilot studies, performed using soy lecithin-derived phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidic acid (PA), in the journal Advances in Therapy. The studies provide evidence suggesting a combination of PS and PA - as in Lonza’s MemreePlus ingredient - can support memory and cognitive function, which is especially apparent in those who have developed cognition deficiencies.

Since 2011, Lonza and PS supplier Lipogen have worked together under an exclusive distribution agreement to offer Lipogen’s PS products as Lonza MemreePS ingredient. The pilot studies were funded by Lipogen and used a combination of 100 mg PS and 80 mg PA three times per day.

The first study, conducted over three months in 72 functioning, non-depressive elderly with memory problems, demonstrated a statistically significant positive influence of PS and PA on memory, mood and cognition in pre-post comparison. The second study, held over two months in 96 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, demonstrated a significant stabilising effect of PS and PA on daily functioning, as well as improvements in emotional state and self-reported general condition.

At the conclusion of the studies, the combination of PS and PA demonstrated a positive influence on memory, mood and cognition among elderly test subjects with memory problems. Additionally, the studies show PS is efficiently absorbed after oral consumption.

“The sum of these studies validates the MemreePlus ingredient, Lonza’s proprietary blend of soy-based PS and PA, for formulation into nutritional supplements as a memory and cognitive support ingredient,” said Dr Matthias Ruesing, global product manager for the Memree product line at Lonza. “We will continue to further investigate the benefits of MemreePS and MemreePlus PS+PA, alongside our continued research being conducted with our entire nutrition ingredients portfolio.”