Novartis
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Consumer Health division hopes to submit data to FDA within 30-60 days showing Phytrol, a sterol-based, cholesterol-lowering functional food ingredient, is generally recognized as safe. The Swiss firm is aiming to launch a Phytrol-containing functional food line in the U.S. in 2000, similar to the Aviva line that recently debuted in the U.K. and Switzerland (1"The Tan Sheet" Nov. 22, p. 4). Novartis also has entered into partnerships with the University of Texas Medical Center at Galveston and Ball State University in Indiana to conduct U.S. clinical trials in the area of functional foods and herbals; the firm hopes to bring a line of herbals currently marketed under the Valverde name in Germany and Switzerland to the U.S. market by the third quarter of 2000. Novartis also has said it plans to launch of a line of pediatric OTCs, including dental care remedies, diaper-rash creams and anti-gas drops, under the Gerber brand