Novartis Launches Mass Market Supplement Line

SUMMIT, N.J.--Novartis Consumer Health Inc. has created a line of dietary supplements that focuses on consumer conditions rather than on individual dietary ingredients. Introduced under the brand name ReSource Wellness, the 10-product line covers the gamut of everyday conditions for which consumers usually turn to supplements, a list Novartis gathered through a consumer survey.

Prior to now, Novartis only had two dietary supplements--a mineral and a multivitamin. "Right now, we have a very weak presence in the vitamin/mineral supplement area," said Barry Kesten, marketing director at Novartis. "Our company is looking at the whole health concept in terms of natural foods and health foods, in terms of nutritional products and in terms of prescription products and OTC products."

Unlike many other dietary supplements, these products are marketed by condition rather than by the reputation of one ingredient. "You go into a store and see twelve different echinacea products and fourteen ginseng products," Kesten said. "Instead, we focused on consumer needs, because the needs will always be there." He added that Novartis' product line is targeted predominantly to the 35 and over crowd, and would be sold in mass market stores with a price point under $10. The company hopes to build sales through education--product panels list elementary information about each ingredient and who the product is for. An 877-number has been established to handle consumer questions.

Novartis, which also produces over-the-counter drugs and baby formulas, used to be one of the world's largest developers of genetically modified (GM) crops; it spun off that business last year in a joint venture with Zeneca to form Syngenta. Currently, Novartis supports a non-GMO policy across many of its product lines, including ReSource Wellness and its much-hyped, non-GMO baby food from subdivision Gerber.

"We will never say that our ingredients are free of genetically modified organisms," said Sheldon Jones, director of public communications at Novartis. "However, we work with our suppliers wherever we can to ensure that the products we use are from non-genetically modified sources. Essentially, we can't guarantee that there isn't one-billionth of a contamination anywhere, so we will never say 'GM-free.'"

More information about this new line is available at www.resourcewellness.com.