In a recent joint venture agreement, Danish Gumlink has acquired a 50% stake in Tab Labs Inc. creating a strong partnership with a primary focus on patented nutraceutical chewing gum.

April 26, 2011

3 Min Read
Gumlink acquires 50% of  Canadian probiotic gum manufacturer Tab Labs

Located in Vancouver, Tab Labs Inc. has been producing chewing gum for the B2B market since 2001. Like Gumlink, Tab Labs have recently shifted a great deal of focus towards the increasingly attractive functional and nutraceutical market for chewing gum. Tab Labs has especially focused on upgrading their facilities to accommodate extremely sensitive active ingredients, such as probiotics.

Probiotics is indeed interesting, due to the size of the market ($15.9 billion globally in 2008) and its’ potential, as sales are expected to near $30 billion in 2015, according to Global Industry Analysts (GIA).

Gumlink will be reinforcing the joint venture by Gumlinkcontributing with its nutraceutical chewing gum capabilities, and the accumulated know-how in its’ R&D facilities located in Denmark.

In order to support this new venture, renowned expert in the field of probiotics and microbiology Dr. Chris Chilcott has joined the Tab Labs management team, to head up Tab Labs’ new Nutraceutical Innovation Center. Dr. Chilcott has been one of the leading forces behind the development of patented, oral probiotic strains Blis K-12 and Blis M-18 at BLIS Technologies in New Zealand.

The joint venture is among the first initiatives in Gumlink’s nutraceutical strategy for the future involving strategic collaborations with various industry partners, as announced in January this year.

CEO of Gumlink A/S, Soren Birn, says; “This move makes perfect sense for us, as it will provide us with a nutraceutical manufacturing and distribution platform in North America and provide access to novel technologies that when combined with our own proprietary gum technologies will enable us to offer the most potent nutraceutical chewing gum assortment. Furthermore, Gumlink is now following our strategic pathway to maintain and further build our position as the world’s leading nutraceutical gum developer and manufacturer.”

CEO of Tab Labs Inc. Tom Holtgen says; “We are very excited to be partnered with the #1 business-to-business gum manufacturer in the world. Gumlink brings to Tab Labs scale, infrastructure and resources that will allow us to take all aspects of our business to the highest levels. Our common vision and synergies are very complementary, and will result in many new exciting innovations and discoveries. Tab Labs is now positioned to taking ownership as North America’s leading nutraceutical chewing gum innovator and contract manufacturer.

About Gumlink:
Gumlink , together with its affiliated companies, is the world’s leading business-to-business developer and manufacturer of chewing gum. Over the years, Gumlink has accumulated a vast amount of experience in the pharmaceutical industry through sister company Fertin Pharma. This experience provides Gumlink with the ability to create nutraceutical concepts based on expert knowledge of active ingredients and great-tasting chewing gum without compromising on taste or texture. www.gumlink.com.

About Tab Labs:
Tab Labs pioneered tablet compressed chewing gum in 2001. Since then, establishing itself as North America’s leader in the field of nutraceutical chewing gum technologies. In 2009, Tab Labs developed and commercialized the world’s first oral probiotic chewing gum. With the recent addition of world renowned Dr. Chris Chilcott, as Chief Technology Officer, Tab Labs has positioned itself to accelerate its lead, advances and knowledge in the field of nutraceutical chewing gum. Tab Lab’s recently commissioned Innovation Center, will greatly expand the ability to conduct R&D on more sophisticated, complex and exciting nutraceutical gum concepts. 

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