CORK CAMPUS company Alimentary Health is behind a new product being launched today by global consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble.

Daily dietary supplement Align contains a probiotic strain discovered by microbiologists in Cork back in the early-1990s. Since then researchers have been working with Procter & Gamble (P&G) to commercialise the find.

Now it is being launched in supermarkets across the United States with the promise of relief for people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) affects as many as one in five Americans and treatment options are limited.

Prof Eamonn Quigley, one of the lead investigators behind the project, says the active product in Align is the only probiotic currently able to demonstrate significant improvement in IBS symptoms.

“In the studies more than 60 per cent of people on the product feel significantly better at the end of the course compared with 40 per cent for a placebo – the standard placebo response rate for IBS.

“People will begin to feel better within a week, and the response rate improves over four to six weeks.”

Today’s launch is a landmark for the company which has been supported largely by Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland.

“This is enormous. It’s hard for us even to believe that it is happening,” said Prof Quigley.

“A deal like this gives you credibility in terms of building a track record. It is not that common for a small Irish start-up to take a product from the bench to clinical trials and to market.

“It has been extremely exciting. One of the interesting things is that it has made us better clinical scientists.”

The launch is also a first for P&G which had not previously developed a probiotic product and had no history in IBS.

PG initially marketed Align through medical professionals and pharmacies in a series of pilot projects, and Prof Quigley says it has to date surpassed all sales targets set for it.