Nestlé Health Science has made a strategic investment of $42.5 million in Pronutria Biosciences, Cambridge, MA. Pronutria is pioneering a pipeline of oral therapeutic and nutritional biologics, called Pronutrein proteins. These target imbalances in amino acid profiles—the foundation of human protein—that are now understood to have underlying roles in a range of health conditions (e.g., neurological, muscle and liver disorders).

The proceeds from this financing will fund further clinical development of Pronutria’s first-in-class lead product candidates, including PN-107 for muscle wasting indications, as well as the advancement of the company’s pipeline of therapeutics to treat many other diseases impacted by amino acid dysregulation.

Nestlé Health Science CEO Greg Behar, who will be taking a seat on the Pronutria Board of Directors, commented, “Across our existing business in Consumer Care, Medical Nutrition and Novel Therapeutic Nutrition, we are forging an innovation frontier for nutritional therapy in healthcare. Pronutria is bringing a paradigm-changing science with new clinical approaches addressing unmet needs that are associated with significant health economic costs. We see strong potential in the technology platform and this unique partnership, given our healthcare expertise, existing portfolio and global coverage.”

Pronutria was founded in 2011 and was selected as the hottest Healthcare Start-up by Forbes Magazine in 2015. Commenting upon the investment and the technology, President and CEO Robert Connelly said, “We believe Nestlé Health Science can be an accelerator in taking our technology into transformational treatment across multiple conditions. Our research has revealed that amino acid dysregulation may cause and/or drive the onset of a number of serious conditions. We have shown the potential for these diseases to be mitigated or reversed by Pronutrein proteins that deliver a specific profile of regenerative amino acids.”