A new medical nutrition development project targeting patients with cancer cachexia, valued at NOK 15.6 million, has received a grant from the Research Council of Norway

The Research Council of Norway has selected Smartfish’s innovation project to receive a grant for the three-year development and research project named “New nutritionally complete food for special medical purposes (FSMP) to patients with cancer cachexia”. In this project, Smartfish  will collaborate with SINTEF, the University of Bergen, the University of Lund and B. Braun.

Patients diagnosed with cancer have a particularly high risk of developing malnutrition due to the disease itself and due to the effects cancer treatments can have on appetite, taste perception, nausea and fatigue. Some cancer patients also develop cancer cachexia, a multifactorial syndrome characterized by involuntary weight loss and anorexia. Previous studies have shown that malnutrition and weight loss among cancer patients can result in an increased length of hospital stay, reduced muscle function, delayed wound healing, reduced tolerance to cancer treatment, poorer quality of life and increased mortality.  

Previous studies have found that hospitalized patients with malnutrition have three times longer hospital stays compared to well-nourished patients. The British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) has estimated that the treatment of patients with malnutrition costs over GBP 7 billion per year in Britain.

Having medical nutrition products on the market that are targeted towards this patient group is crucial to reduce the detrimental consequences malnutrition may have on the individual cancer patient as well as to reduce the economic cost malnutrition has on the society. Therefore, the research project “New nutritionally complete food for special medical purposes to patients with cancer cachexia” aims to develop an emulsion technology that can be used for new FSMP products targeted towards this patient group. Smartfish will in this project collaborate with SINTEF, the University of Bergen, Norway, the University of Lund, Sweden and the world leading provider of healthcare products B. Braun, Melsungen, Germany.

“We are thrilled to announce that our innovation project “New nutritionally complete food for special medical purposes to patients with cancer cachexia” has been selected to receive the grant from The Research Council of Norway. We are eager to start working on this highly important project and are glad to have such strong collaborating partners to do this with”, says Smartfish’s CEO Geir Harstad.

About Smartfish AS 

Smartfish AS is active within research, development, production and marketing of advanced clinically documented nutritional drinks in the field of medical nutrition and sports nutrition. All Smartfish products are produced on its proprietary juice-based emulsion technology platform with the marine DHA and EPA fatty acids as important ingredients. The products are mainly sold through recognized international partners and distributors. Smartfish has a number of ongoing clinical development projects and studies in close collaboration with researchers and institutions both in Norway and internationally.  

The company was founded in 2001 and is located in Oslo, Norway and Lund, Sweden. Smartfish’s main shareholders are Investinor (Norway) and Industrifonden (Sweden). Learn more on https://www.smartfishnutrition.com. 

For more information, please contact: 

Mari Rivelsrud, International Product Specialist, Phone: + 47 918 59 718

Geir Harstad, CEO of Smartfish, Phone: + 46 763151160