EL DORADO HILLS, Calif.—NutraCea (OTCBB:NTRZ), a leader in stabilized rice bran technology, signed a seven-year supply and distribution agreement with StoneBridge Pharma LLC (www.stonebridgepharma.com), a specialty pharmaceutical company. Under the agreement, StoneBridge will begin to market and distribute over-the-counter (OTC) gastrointestinal products utilizing NutraCea’s Rice Bran Fiber. The first product to be manufactured will be Rice Bran Fiber Wafers, which will incorporate NutraCea’s proprietary stabilized rice bran fiber into a wafer form. NutraCea will begin shipping product to StoneBridge in the fourth quarter of this year and launch nationally in retail markets in early 2007. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“StoneBridge is an outstanding business partner, given its strong relationships with major chain drug stores, wholesalers, supermarkets, mass-market retailers, and more than 24,000 independent pharmacies around the country,” said Bradley Edson, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of NutraCea (www.nutracea.com). “We are very pleased to build on what has already become a successful supply and distribution platform for our nutritional stabilized rice bran products.”
Robert Sykora, R.Ph., president of StoneBridge Pharma, said NutraCea’s unique line of all-natural gastrointestinal products made from fractionated rice bran will play an important role in long term growth of the human-fiber market, a multi-billion dollar annual revenue opportunity dominated by a couple of large players. “We feel this product will allow us the opportunity to gain a significant footprint in this category and even give us the opportunity to become an industry leader within the next several years,” he said. “Together, we anticipate expanding consumer choice, increasing market demand and carving out a meaningful share of the human-fiber market.”
Bi-Coastal Pharmaceutical Corp., which works with NutraCea to secure agreements with pharmaceutical companies, as well as sales and distribution arrangements for NutraCea’s proprietary stabilized rice bran products and technology, was instrumental in facilitating this new agreement.
For more information, visit www.nutracea.com or Booth #9544- 9546 at SupplySide West.
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