(By Balaseshan) Spherix Inc. (NASDAQ: SPEX) said it has signed a supply and license agreement with Fullife Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. for the use of D-tagatose in nutraceutical products in India.
Under the terms of the agreement, Spherix has granted Fullife an exclusive, royalty-bearing license in India for use of Spherix's clinical data and proprietary know-how to support marketing and dosing of the D-tagatose that Spherix will also be supplying.
The D-tagatose will be used in food or cosmetic products that may provide health benefits in return for a fixed royalty on gross sales.
Spherix will provide bulk D-Tagatose to Fullife and Fullife will be responsible for all testing and development of products containing D-Tagatose for sale in India. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
According to Fullife Healthcare, D-tagatose is a versatile compound that can be formulated in many ways to help patients with metabolic syndrome and diabetes cope with their condition.
D-tagatose is a naturally occurring simple sugar that has been tested successfully as an oral treatment for glycemic control in patients with Type 2 diabetes and other indications. D-tagatose has been recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) substance for use in food and beverages since 2001.
Structurally, D-tagatose is a naturally occurring stereoisomer of D-fructose, and resulted from the application of Spherix's expertise in chiral carbohydrate chemistry to create L-sugars that would retain their sweetness characteristics without being metabolized.
Originally developed as a reduced-calorie sugar substitute, D-tagatose is processed using the same pathways as other sugars, but at a slower rate, thus blocking the pathways and preventing the stimulation of insulin secretion and lowering blood glucose levels.
The company said D-tagatose passes to the lower intestine, where it is fermented by bacteria to produce short-chain fatty acids and carbon dioxide. It is considered a prebiotic, promoting more favorable microbial flora in the colon.
SPEX is trading down 1.85 percent at $7.95 on Thursday. The stock has been trading between $6.12 and $40.20 for the past 52 weeks.