BASF in agreement with DIEM Labs

To enter medical foods market in the US

BASF Corporation and DIEM Labs have entered into a distribution agreement to commercialize BASF’s first US medical food product for the dietary management of patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).

As part of this agreement, BASF will use its scientific expertise and state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities to provide a first-to-the-market medical food product to patients with NAFLD. DIEM Labs will market the product to health care professionals in the US. And sell it through an online hub. The product will be available to US patients, who are under the supervision of a physician for NAFLD management.

Rising NAFLD rates present a looming large-scale health challenge in America NAFLD is defined as fat accumulated in the liver, representing more than 5 per cent of its weight. BASF acknowledged the significant unmet need and developed a new medical food product for the dietary management of patients with NAFLD. A product-specific human intervention trial including more than 170 patients has been conducted by BASF to show that the product is effective and safe in the dietary management of patients with NAFLD. The to-be-launched product will therefore add to the current standard of care for NAFLD. It is anticipated that it will be commercially available throughout the US in the first half of 2018.

"With this step, BASF is entering an attractive new market segment in the space between human nutrition and pharma," said François Scheffler, Head, BASF’s Global Human Nutrition and Pharma Solutions Businesses. "This further supports our mission to enable people to live a healthy and fulfilling life."

"We are delighted to work together with such a renowned company as BASF in the medical foods market," said Cai Berg, CEO, DIEM labs. "The new product will offer a solution to patients who currently have no other alternative than lifestyle modifications to turn their NAFLD around."