Lonza, the Swiss-based pharmaceuticals company, has said that the US Food and Drug Administration has allowed the sale of PepZin GI, a recent dietary ingredient submission to the federal agency.
PepZin GI is a patented zinc-carnosine complex supported, claims Lonza, by abundant human and animal data. PepZin GI has been used in Japan for over a decade as an ulcer-healing drug under the generic name Polaprezinc (INN).
Lonza has an exclusive distribution agreement with Hamari Chemicals, (Osaka, Japan), to market the ingredient in North America and Europe. Hamari Chemicals manufactures and holds the patents on the compound.
PepZin GI is a coordination complex of zinc with the dipeptide L-carnosine.
Lonza describes itself as a life sciences company. Headquartered in Switzerland in 2001 the company, that employs some 6,200 people worldwide, had sales of SF2.5 billion (€1.7bn).