The natural way...

Speciality chemicals company Cognis announced recently that its agreement with Norwegian firm Natural for the licence to its Tonalin brand conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) went into effect this weekend.

The agreement, which gives Cognis an exclusive licence to Natural's CLA intellectual property, technology and marketing, as well as exclusive use of the Tonalin trademark, goes into effect on 15 February. Patent rights licensed to Natural from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) are part of the agreement.

Cognis' Nutrition and Health division, which will market the CLA, is hoping to expand the product's market share in the dietary supplements sector, and is to step up sales and marketing to increase the ingredient's role in the foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals markets.

Paul Allen, group vice president of Cognis Nutrition and Health, said the unit would work on developing marketing opportunities in new channels, and promoting research on CLA's health applications.

The Tonalin brand CLA is made from converting linoleic acid from safflower oil into CLA which provides an 80 per cent purity. Cognis added that results from a 12 month clinical study demonstrating the benefits of Tonalin CLA in body weight management are to be published this year.Cognis​ recorded sales of €3.1 billion in 2001 and an operating profit of €174 million. In the first half of 2002, sales were €1.6 billion.