InterMed Acquires Sustainable Source for Omega-3 Fatty Acid

InterMed Discovery (IMD), has announced the acquisition of microbial Omega-3 fatty acid production strains and related know-how from the University of Saarland. This microbial source has the potential to produce Omega-3 more sustainably and reliably compared to established sources.

The two fatty acids EPA and DHA are particularly important and the concentrations of both and their ratios are directly related to the utility of Omega-3 in different therapeutic settings. At present, Omega-3 fatty acids, particularly those with high levels of EPA, are derived from fish. However, with dwindling fish populations and rising demand for Omega-3 the search for more sustainable alternatives has been on. In addition, fish is an unreliable source since the Omega-3 concentration can exhibit significant batch variation. This is also a problem with potential alternative sources such as algae, which generate mainly DHA while the yields for EPA are very low or even none at all.

The microbial strains that IMD has acquired are sustainable sources that generate reliably high yields of Omega-3 fatty acids, which significantly out-perform current sources. This source also offers a more favourable ratio between the fatty acids DHA and EPA. This is in turn is expected to lead to the development of enhanced Omega-3 formulations for new product applications for the pharma industry.