Nestlé. Big Food. Big Pharma
... and medicine be food
At the Vevey launch: Nestlé Health Science President Luis Cantorell,
Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke, Nestlé chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe
'Anti-ageing medicine, natural rejuvenation, immortality, that's what most people are studying these days' Kazakhstan President 70 year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev said recently, 'Those who do, are the most successful states in the world - those who don't will get left on the sidelines'. He added: 'People of my age are really hoping all of this will happen as soon as possible' (1).
The application of stem cell research, using rodent and - it is hoped - human embryonic cells, may be the name of the game, as indicated by the Wikipedia diagram above. It doesn't imply that Nursultan Nazarbayev might be in presidential office in 2111, but it does suggest that there might still be time to spruce him up.
Nestlé is now pushing a big pile of chips into the centre of the table, making its move into human bioengineering, in order to be and stay ahead in the great stem cell game. It has the clout to do so. It is the biggest food manufacturer in the world, with an annual turnover of about 110 billion Swiss francs. This is more than twice the size of any one of the leading drug companies Novartis, Pfizer and Bayer, and almost exactly the same as oil-rich Kazakhstan's gross domestic product. It is greater than the GDP of all but four African countries, and is not far short of those of Algeria, Peru and New Zealand. Nestlé has about 450 factories in over 80 countries, with well over 250,000 employees. More significantly, Nestlé top executives, like those of other giant transnational companies, can plan strategically, and can shift huge sums of money into new initiatives.
With the potential for human genetic engineering, they would be foolish not to do so, and their risk is small. If stem cell science turns out not to translate into products that will repair and rejuvenate humans, the worst scenario would be less colossal profits and a lower share value - and no other company would cash in.
But suppose the appliance of this science does lead to products that look like food, or like drugs, or both ('frugs'? 'drood?') that 'cure' cancer and heart disease, or that grow new hair or eyes, or enhance intelligence or prevent dementia, or prolong life?
Suppose that in 20 years Nestlé led the field with legally protected and branded drood sold over the counter in supermarkets and in pharmacies, and licensed and patented frugs purchased as public and private medicine, all licensed to make claims like those indicated above. Suppose even that top rate lawyers could engineer patents for the concepts as well as individual products. Company turnover and profits might multiply say ten-fold at current prices. This would make Nestlé by far the biggest company in the world, perhaps up to double the size of the leading oil companies. Assuming that in this time national GDPs doubled, this would give Nestlé a turnover equivalent to about the 20th biggest country measured in terms of GDP, at about the level of their host country Switzerland. In such a situation the balance between national governments and transnational industries would have shifted. Accelerating the current trend, industry would be calling a lot more of the shots, including regulatory decisions.
Nestlé chiefs speak softly
Understandably, the Nestlé senior executives announcing the new initiatives in Vevey late last year were vague. Nobody knows now if the new forms of genetic engineering will prove to have much application, and sensible business executives with a stack of chips to multiply or lose, play their cards one at a time. But the company's media releases, of which extracts appear below, are thought-provoking.
Inaugural head of the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences, stem cell entrepreneur and scientist Emmanuel E. Baetge, said: 'The Institute will create and deliver world class excellence in biomedical research to better understand human diseases and ageing... Translating this knowledge will allow us to advance the concept of daily personalised health science nutrition as the most important first step in disease prevention and treatment'.
Nestlé Health Science is also coming on-stream. Its purpose is to apply the science to develop brands to treat diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular and Alzheimer's disease and other conditions, that in the company's words are an 'unsustainable burden on the world's healthcare systems'. Luis Cantarell, who has been the chair of Nestlé Chile and Brazil, is health sciences division president and CEO designate. At the launch he said: 'This is an exciting new business opportunity, the execution of which will have a positive long-term impact on peoples' lives. Personalised health science nutrition will create shared value, both for Nestlé and for society'.
Nestlé chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe added that Nestlé will be a pioneer in occupying the space between the food and drug industries. 'The combination of health economics, changing demographics and advances in health science show that our existing healthcare systems, which focus on treating sick people, are not sustainable and need redesigning. Nestlé has the expertise, the science, the resources and the organisation to play a major role in seeking alternative solutions'.
Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke further added: 'The creation of Nestlé Health Science and the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences is the best way to focus our attention and organise our unique capabilities and competencies... The new set-up will give us a pioneering and leading role in this entirely new industry, while at the same time allowing us to keep the necessary focus on Nestlé's extremely important food, beverages and nutrition business'.
Nestlé nutrition for changed world health
Vevey. Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke was interviewed for The Telegraph by Andrew Cave (2).. Here is an extract of what he said, of the new initiatives: 'This is very important, strategically speaking, because in our eyes it is going to be a major dimension in our society. It's actually a new industry that's in the making and is crystallising into a well-defined business opportunity'
'The productivity of society is linked with health. We don't feel it so much in our society because we're a relatively healthy society. But if you go into Africa, you see whole countries suffer because of malnourishment. Then on the other side of the equation, there are the healthcare costs that are exploding. If you add it all up, there's an increasing business opportunity to help society to give meaningful solutions and build a healthier society that's more productive'.
'We have a business of over $US 100 billion that's basically food and beverages where we have built in, over many years, nutrition, health and wellness arguments. We want to have a portfolio that's meaningfully part of peoples' lives to bring them healthy nutrition and by doing so create more healthy people and wellness'
Are Nestlé's ambitions anything more than warm words? He believes so, saying some of its products already come with health benefits. Its Nesquik drink is inducing more children to drink milk and has been reformulated with 20 per cent less sugar, he claims, while a version of Nestlé's bouillon cube sold in Africa comes fortified with iodine. 'We have mapped micronutrient deficiencies and there are four big ones that could make a big difference if you could give solutions: iron, zinc, vitamin A and iodine'.
'As we are selling quite a lot of products, we are saying: 'How can we use these products to carry these nutrients in a natural way? It is not a pill. In a natural way, through a natural diet, we fortify and help to neutralise these deficiencies to quite an important extent'.
'We have billions of servings of products like milk or chocolates which are fortified. If you do that over time, you drive your portfolios towards this nutritional imbalance agenda. Companies, together with governments really should start creating a population that really understands about nutrition. It's a deficiency in our society'.
So what will the mice tell the Nestlé biotechnicians? Until human embryonic stem cells are rolled out in a big way, for a while it seems to be all down to the rodents. Will regulators accept products whose safety before use is based on the results of small animal experiments? Will governments overcome their inhibitions about the use of human cells? These are other stories. Meanwhile, Nestlé reckons it is redrawing the map of nutrition.
References
- Parfitt T. Kazahkstan's president urges scientists to find the elixir of life. The Guardian, 7 December 2010.
- Cave A. Nestlé chief Paul Bulcke aims to teach the world about nutrition. The Telegraph, 3 October 2010.
