Investors

OptiBiotix Health plc (AIM: OPTI), a life sciences business developing compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes, announces successful human taste studies in its SweetBiotix® product development programme. The programme has been designed to develop sweet natural healthy fibres, called SweetBiotix®, which are not digested in the human gut, and hence calorie free.

The study was carried out by The Flavour and Sensory Science Centre at the University of Reading who tested six customised oligosaccharides developed from high intensity sweeteners which were compared to sucrose. The study used a trained expert panel of ten experienced panellists and showed:-

• The customised oligosaccharides showed sweetness of between 140X and 223X that of sucrose at equivalent concentrations
• Customised oligosaccharides derived from Stevia showed a large reduction in bitterness whilst not affecting its sweetness

The results of this independent study provide proof of product concept for a natural, low calorie, SweetBiotix®. This is an innovative concept which has the potential to address public health concerns over the impact of sugar on obesity, with the prospect of replacing 'unhealthy' sugars in existing products with low calorie, healthy non-digestible fibres, trademarked as SweetBiotix®.

Given the global sweetener market, currently dominated by sugar, is forecast to reach $112bn by 2022 (Mordor Intelligence, 2017), the Company are filing additional patents to add a further layer of protection to the existing intellectual property portfolio to protect their inventions and fully exploit the commercial potential.

Stephen O'Hara, CEO of OptiBiotix, commented: "We are really pleased with the results of this study which opens up opportunities for the development of a range of natural sweet prebiotic fibres which can be used to replace sugar in food and beverages. These may be classified as dietary fibres, which from an industry and consumer perspective, creates the prospect of substituting high calorie sugars with sweet healthy fibres. With growing public and political concerns over traditional sugars and artificial sweeteners OptiBiotix is leading research in an area of growing industry interest."

For further information, please contact:

About OptiBiotix - www.optibiotix.com

OptiBiotix was formed in March 2012 to develop compounds which modify the human microbiome - the collective genome of the microbes in the body - to prevent and manage human disease.

The aim of OptiBiotix is to discover and develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations, which modulate the human microbiome and can be used as food ingredients and supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic diseases, examples of which include obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution and diabetes.

OptiBiotix has established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression. The development pipeline is fuelled by its proprietary OptiScreen® and OptiBiotic® platform technologies designed to identify metabolic pathways and compounds that impact on human physiology and bring potential health benefits. These platforms are applicable across a wider range of other human diseases.