News
Fermentalg acquires patent portfolio
15 Feb 2018French microalgae company Fermentalg has announced the acquisition of a portfolio of patents to reinforce its intellectual property and industrial and commercial capabilities in its strategic market of Omega 3 production.
French microalgae company Fermentalg has announced the acquisition of a portfolio of patents to reinforce its intellectual property and industrial and commercial capabilities in its strategic market of Omega 3 production.
Fermentalg now owns a portfolio of five patents, some of which have already been issued in several countries, to add to its 21 families of active patents already filed. The Group has also acquired a number of microalgae strains to add to its 2000+ strain bank which is one of the largest in the world. This intellectual property opens the way for new opportunities in Omega 3 production, the company said, particularly oils rich in essential fatty acids and natural pigments which are the two major product families developed by the company, both directly or indirectly through partnerships. Hywel Griffiths, Chief Scientific Officer for Fermentalg, said: “As soon as we saw the opportunity to acquire this technological expertise, we knew it would give us the competitive advantage needed to offer innovative products with a very high value-added to industry partners in our strategic markets of nutrition and health. It is an acquisition that once again reflects Fermentalg’s position as a driver of innovation through the bio-industrial exploitation of microalgae.” Fermetalg notes that, all sources combined (EPA, DHA, etc.), today’s Omega 3 market is estimated at $1.4 billion, with markets in Asia-Pacific, the United States, Latin America and Europe. Estimated at around 2,000 tons per year, the market for DHA derived from microalgae has enjoyed robust growth over the last few years thanks to changing consumption patterns. At the end of 2017, Fermentalg announced the signing of a Europe-wide distribution agreement with IMCD Group, a leader in the sales, marketing and distribution of speciality chemicals and food ingredients. The agreement includes DHA350, an Omega-3-rich algal oil unveiled at VITAFOODS EUROPE, and DHA550, an oil offering a high concentration of Omega 3 scheduled for launch in the first half of 2018.