Nestle Health Science invests in childhood nutrition

Nestlé Health Science (NHSc) has become an investor in Before Brands, Inc., specialists in early childhood food allergy prevention. It has also acquired the exclusive licensing rights to Before Brands’ products outside the United States. Terms of the financing and collaboration were not disclosed.

Before Brands is the inventor of the SpoonfulOne line of childhood nutritional products, designed to reduce food allergy development risk with 16 key allergens. The core technology is based on research and intellectual property licensed from Stanford University, training the child’s immune system through consistent feeding over months to years.

In addition to becoming a significant minority equity investor in Before Brands, NHSc also has an option to purchase all remaining equity in Before Brands in the future. Gurnet Point Capital, a healthcare-focused private investment firm that has led prior financing rounds for Before Brands, invested alongside NHSc and remains a minority equity investor in the company.

Ashley Dombkowski, co-founder and CEO of Before Brands, commented: “With Nestlé Health Science, we have secured the ideal partner so that we may advance our mission to help families around the world benefit from SpoonfulOne’s advanced protein science and the new recommendations that advocate proactive, long-term feeding strategies to reduce food allergy development risk. Their expertise and global footprint will allow us to accelerate education, commercialization, and distribution activities globally.”

Greg Behar, CEO of Nestlé Health Science, added: “This investment enhances our growing business with a new dimension: allergy prevention. The prevalence of food allergies among children is increasing, however, studies have shown that consistently exposing children at a very early age to a potential food allergen can reduce the development of an allergy to that food by up to 80 percent.”