Roche: Innovation In Product
And Market DevelopmentWith ties to the dietary supplement and functional food arenas, Roche Vitamins, Inc., Parsippany, NJ, is an innovator in terms of products as well as in terms of market development. Building on its leadership role in vitamins and carotenoids, the company has combined custom blending capabilities and an extensive product line to meet the needs of customers throughout the worldwide nutraceuticals industry.
Roche Vitamins recently underwent a corporate reorganization, with a new president—Christoph Goppelsroeder—joining the division from the company’s Swiss operation in mid-1999. Also new is Dr. Markus Altwegg, who is head of Roche Vitamins and Fine Chemicals Worldwide and moves over from Roche’s European operation.
Roche’s food business was described by Paul Paslaski, senior marketing manager, as diverse with tremendous potential. While the most discussion recently may have centered around Roche’s “ROPUFA” omega 3 fatty acid product, this is only one of the group’s important areas of concentration, said Mr. Paslaski.
“We want to develop clusters of nutrients for specific benefits,” he said, “addressing a specific problem on multiple fronts.” He gave as an example a heart health product that incorporates omega 3 for triglyceride lowering but also includes B vitamins for controlling homocysteine levels, or a bone health product that includes calcium and complementary vitamins. “We will add minerals, we will add herbals; we are not just a vitamin supplier,” he said. “We develop products based on customer requirements and consumer needs.”
Knowing what consumers need is part of Roche’s specialty, as the company does extensive market research on consumers and their attitudes and purchasing practices. “Instead of saying, ‘I’m going to sell you this,’ we say, “Let’s figure out what’s going on at the consumer level, what they want, and formulate a product to address that need,’” he said.
Taking this a step further, Mr. Paslaski said, “One of our new strategic directions is to become a viable supplier for all of those ‘other’ non-vitamin ingredients. We want to sell solutions, not just products,” he said in conclusion.
Offering solutions to the dietary supplement industry is Roche Vitamins’ other focus. According to Lynda Doyle, senior marketing manager, Dietary Supplement and Health Industry unit, “it is extremely important to balance the science, safety and efficacy of these new ingredients with the fast pace of the evolving market and the need for new products.” Roche recently launched two new carotenoids for use in dietary supplements—lycopene, which was introduced in July and lutein, which hit the market in October.
“Roche invests a tremendous amount of time and money in building a strong foundation for any potential new ingredient prior to introducing a product to market,” said Ms. Doyle. “Lycopene and lutein are two examples of this and both are doing very well. The industry is really excited about these products,” she continued, adding that both are produced using the same unique beadlet technology Roche has been using to manufacture products like ‘BetaTab 20,’ resulting in very free-flowing, highly stable beadlets.”
Lycopene 5% TG is the first synthetic lycopene to be introduced to the dietary supplement industry, according to Ms. Doyle. “It is specially developed for direct compression formulations and can be used for film coated tablets, chewables or capsules.”
Likewise Lutein 5% TG—which uses purified lutein from Kemin Foods, Des Moines, IA—is also versatile in its application. “Both Lycopene 5% TG and Lutein 5% TG can be used in multivitamins, in antioxidant combinations, in specialty formulations such as lutein in eye health or lycopene in men’s health or single entity offerings.” Lutein made news recently when American Home Products added Roche’s Lutein 5% TG into “Centrum” and “Centrum Silver” formulations.
The science behind both products continues to grow, said Ms. Doyle, leading to increased consumer awareness. For lycopene, she said, there is a large body of epidemiological evidence associating increased consumption of tomatoes and tomato-based products or high serum levels of lycopene with a reduced risk of certain types of cancer, particularly prostate, stomach and lung. In the case of lutein, some evidence suggests a possible relationship between higher serum levels or dietary intakes of lutein and zeaxanthin and a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of acquired blindness in the U.S. “In line with our cluster concept,” said Ms. Doyle, “we are promoting lutein with vitamins E and C for eye health formulations.”
Speaking of vitamin E, this is another product that has been doing very well in the supplement area at Roche, said Ms. Doyle. “Consumer demand for higher potency vitamin E has risen dramatically in response to new scientific findings. Consumers are looking for higher levels of vitamin E in their multivitamins and our High Potency “E75 HP” can help formulators raise the levels of vitamin E in their formulations while minimizing the impact on tablet size,” she said.
In summary, Ms. Doyle said, “As Roche continues to introduce new products to the dietary supplement market based on science and consumer needs, we will continue to provide full support from scientific, marketing and educational positions. Roche has always worked to develop the markets for the products as well as the products themselves and we remain committed to developing solutions that meet consumer needs.”
Roche Vitamins Inc.
45 Waterview Boulevard
Parsippany, NJ 07054-1298
Telephone: 973-257-8338 (Ms. Doyle); 973-257-8322 (Mr. Paslaski)
Fax: 973-257-8472 (Ms. Doyle); 973-257-8675 (Mr. Paslaski)
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