Danone announces the acquisition of The Akkermansia Company (TAC), a Belgian company with nearly 20 years of history and science, specializing in biotics.
In 2004, the team of Professor Willem M. de Vos at Wageningen University discovered, described, and patented the application of the novel bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila MucT™ and its growth conditions for human use.
The team then successfully isolated and characterized Akkermansia muciniphila. It was the same team that named the strain in honor of Dr. Anton Akkermans, a famous microbial ecologist working in the lab.
This revolutionary strain helps to strengthen and support the gut barrier to protect against gastrointestinal, metabolic, and immune disorders including obesity, diabetes, and low-grade inflammation.
The company has broad patents protecting the use of the Akkermansia species, including the use of the pasteurized version of the strain, MucT™ which is its most bio-efficacious form and in 2021, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) gave approval to pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila as a novel food in Europe.
“We are very excited about becoming part of the Danone family. It provides us with the resources to accelerate global growth of the pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila MucT™ strain and develop our brands faster”,
said Michael Oredsson CEO of TAC.
“I am confident that with Danone we will move faster to our goal of giving billions of consumers the opportunity to benefit from improved metabolic health offered by Akkermansia”,
said TAC’s Chief Technology Officer Professor Willem M. DeVos, who discovered Akkermansia and co-founded the company.
Expanding deeper into gut health is a key facet of Danone’s Renew strategy, as it doubles down on science and innovation, and as consumer interest in healthy products continues to rise.
About The Akkermansia Company (TAC)
TAC was founded in 2016 by Professor Willem M. de Vos, from Wageningen University (NL) and Professor Patrice D. Cani, from UCLouvain (BE) as a spinoff company active in the microbiome field. TAC develops health products based on the unique properties of the Akkermansia muciniphila commensal bacterial species.
www.theackkermansiacompany.com
About Danone
Danone is a leading global food and beverage company operating in three health-focused, fast-growing and on-trend Categories: Essential Dairy & Plant-Based products, Waters and Specialized Nutrition. With a long-standing mission of bringing health through food to as many people as possible, Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices while committing to achieve measurable nutritional, social, societal and environment impact. Danone has defined its Renew strategy to restore growth, competitiveness, and value creation for the long-term. With over 90,000 employees, and products sold in over 120 markets, Danone generated €27.4 billion in sales in 2024. Danone’s portfolio includes leading international brands (Actimel, Activia, Alpro, Aptamil, Danette, Danio, Danonino, evian, Nutricia, Nutrilon, Volvic, among others) as well as strong local and regional brands (including AQUA, Blédina, Bonafont, Cow & Gate, Mizone, Oikos and Silk). Listed on Euronext Paris and present on the OTCQX platform via an ADR (American Depositary Receipt) program, Danone is a component stock of leading sustainability indexes including the ones managed by Moody’s and Sustainalytics, as well as MSCI ESG Indexes, FTSE4Good Index Series, Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, and Access to Nutrition Index. Danone’s ambition is to be B CorpTMcertified at global level in 2025.