Development stages of an Innovative, efficient and compliant food supplement

Product development is the art of turning "dreams" into reality, from creative idea to product launch. Product development can be broken down into four key phases, each with its own milestones:

• pre-design,

• design,

• development and production,

• marketing.

The competitiveness of companies in the food supplement sector lies in their ability to differentiate themselves from their competitors, in particular through their capacity to innovate. The decision to innovate stems from the need to anticipate or respond to explicit or implicit consumer demand, to improve quality or to acquire new markets. Furthermore, companies must constantly adapt their products to numerous constraints (economic, regulatory, availability of raw materials, packaging, process changes, storage, safety, etc.), leading them to develop a significant R&D activity.

The development of an innovative, effective and compliant dietary supplement is the result of a triptych between marketing, science and regulation, with quality and risk assessment as the backdrop.

There are three scenarios for the development of a food supplement (from the shortest to the longest duration):

• turnkey products (private label), when the company wants to have developed, stable formulas available as quickly as possible. These products offer the advantage of rapid market testing. Development is straightforward, and essentially boils down to labeling and operational marketing. The main disadvantages are dependence on a partner and non-differentiation in the absence of an exclusivity agreement;

• development without clinical trials, when the company wishes to offer its own customized, innovative (or simply differentiating) and specific formula;

• development with a clinically validated claim of its own, when the company wants to market a highly differentiating dietary supplement, and thus gain a valuable competitive edge.

The second scenario, with its detailed stages, is the one discussed in this article, based on a pragmatic approach.

At the end of the article, readers will find a glossary and a table of acronyms.