Innovator
| By Nestor Arellano
VitaFiber spells sweet success for Alberta biotech rising star BioNeutra’s bet on a natural prebiotic sweetener pays back big time
B
utter is back in style – with a vengeance. Pea and hemp proteins are the de rigueur powders for smoothies. And forget about cutting carbs, it’s all about sugar detox these days. The trillion-dollar health and wellness industry is a fickle field and its road to success is littered with failed ventures. This is a fact not lost on Dr. Jinhua Zhu, a bioengineer from China who is the founder and president of one of Alberta’s fastest rising biotechnology companies making a name for itself in the lucrative health food and beverage market. Zhu’s BioNeutra North America Inc. made half a million dollars in sales each week in 2016. VitaFiber IMO, the
company’s starch-derived, prebiotic natural sweetener in syrup and powder form, generated $70 million in sales over the last four years. How Zhu, 58, and his team managed to transform raw agricultural products easily found in Alberta into a commercially successful product is instructive for any biotech startup seeking to take their scientific research from the laboratory to the market place. Zhu pointed out that while his company is 14-years-old, he actually began working on the idea behind VitaFiber 27 years ago. “But all that time, I was very conscious that I needed to commercialize my research,” he said. “The scientific research is essential but it’s critical that you also know your market.” August/September 2017 BIOTECHNOLOGY FOCUS 21
