Spherix Snapshot
Spherix is sweet on health. The company's BioSpherix division is developing products from tagatose, a low-calorie sweetener, with possible applications for improving health. Approved for use in foods, the company sold the food-use rights for tagatose to Arla Foods but hung onto the non-food rights, which it then branded Naturlose. The product is in clinical trials as a possible treatment for Type 2 diabetes, although patient recruitment has been slower than expected. Spherix reported it will likely need a development partner to see the product through to market. To supplement its income, Spherix launched a Health Sciences division to provide regulatory and technical consulting services to other biotech firms.