Contract Research and Development

ABPL is at the forefront of Probiotic research & development in India with full fledged R&D department doing pioneering work in the field of Probiotics and also nutraceuticals.

ABPL’s R&D department has innovated various “1st time in the World” dosage forms in Probiotics & Nutraceuticals. This includes a novel “Sachet in Sachet” technology and “Capsule in Capsule” technology for the first time in the world. We are proud that our highly qualified R&D Personnel are the most experienced with unparalleled expertise in developing shelf-stable probiotic products in India.

Stabilizing the Probiotic

Recently, when an unique yet challenging project of combining Herbal ingredients with Beta Glucan and probiotics came up, ABPL rose up to the challenge. ABPL closely worked with the client to overcome the challenge of stabilizing the probiotic strain which usually is highly unstable at Indian conditions. The other challenge in this project was that, to bring in required beta glucan content within the limited space available in capsule dosage form as the molecule has the physical property of low bulk density and they take up considerable void space in the capsule. ABPL and Client repeatedly worked-reworked the methods/process to ensure that the label claim of beta glucan as desired by the client is made available in the final product. This product has been commercialized in a capsule in capsule format, wherein the probiotic is in the inner baby capsule and beta glucan with herbal ingredients are in the outer mother capsule. The successful commercialization of this product adds yet another feather in the cap of ABPL.

We would also like to mention here that in the formulation and packaging front we have developed some new & novel packaging formats which have been successfully introduced in the market by several marketing companies.

In the past ABPL’s R&D has been able to successfully stabilize European probiotic strains (which are very sensitive to heat and moisture) to meet the ICH Zone IV conditions by innovating with the packaging and ensuring stability till the end of shelf life. The product has been successfully marketed in India by leading companies. Currently we are working on stabilizing probiotics for many probiotic giants to meet ICH Zone IV conditions.

We would also like to mention here that in the formulation and packaging front we have some new & novel packaging and development which have been recently introduced. This includes a novel “Sachet in Sachet” technology and “Capsule in Capsule” technology for the first time in the world. These novel packaging solutions allows Probiotics to be given along with some other ingredients like Vitamins, Minerals etc thus getting the benefits and maintaining the efficacy of Probiotics. These are some novel forms of delivery of fortified Probiotics which have been developed in-house.

ABPL R&D Program

The Company’s R&D effort is focussed on three areas:

Developing fourth generation designer’s probiotics for human therapeutic purposes.
Developing probiotic therapy as an alternative for antibiotics for poultry.
Developing water and soil probiotics for environmentally sustainable aquaculture.

ABPL Research Areas

Establishment of a culture collection

This research area forms a central part of the Network. Among its objectives are isolating, characterizing, and cataloging of bacteria, yeast from various sources. Identifying the characterized strains at strain level by employing polyphasic approach (using conventional and molecular taxonomy).

Identifying putative probiotic strains

In vitro studies to investigate the following characters.

Its effects on the growth of various pathogens.
Their capacity for adhering to gut cells using intestinal Caco-2 cell.
Their ability to reduce cholesterol and produce H2O2.
Tolerate bile salts and gastric juice.

Safety studies and standardization of downstream production

In vitro and in vivo safety studies in animal model system and human clinical trials and standardization of fermentation and lyophilization and robust technology to sustain the stability of the bacterial strains.

Our Commitment

ABPL is committed to conducting state-of-the-art probiotic research and development in order to be leaders in probiotic research in the area of human and livestock industries such as aquaculture, poultry and dairy.

Rationale of Our Commitment to Provision of High-Level Scientific and Clinical Data

As the market for probiotic-containing products has grown rapidly, the WHO and FAO met in 2001 to provide guidelines for standardisation of probiotics. In summary, they stated that probiotic microbes should be capable of surviving passage through the digestive tract and have the capability to proliferate, meaning they must:

Be resistant to gastric juices (acid and bile)
Grow in the presence of bile as in the gut
Be able to colonise the human intestinal tract

More importantly, the organisms should be identified by strain using molecular tools.

In order to be termed a “probiotic”, the WHO/FAO also decreed that the probiotic microbe must be able to confer defined health benefits based on clinical data on the specific strain. WHO pointed out that not all probiotics are capable of meeting the criteria – therefore it is essential to define the specific strain used in trials.