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. 2013 Dec 16;8(12):e82609.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082609. eCollection 2013.

Food-pharma convergence in medical nutrition- best of both worlds?

Tamar C Weenen  1 , Bahar Ramezanpour  2 , Esther S Pronker  3 , Harry Commandeur  4 , Eric Claassen  5
Affiliations

Food-pharma convergence in medical nutrition- best of both worlds?

Tamar C Weenen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

At present, industries within the health and life science sector are moving towards one another resulting in new industries such as the medical nutrition industry. Medical nutrition products are specific nutritional compositions for intervention in disease progression and symptom alleviation. Industry convergence, described as the blurring of boundaries between industries, plays a crucial role in the shaping of new markets and industries. Assuming that the medical nutrition industry has emerged from the convergence between the food and pharma industries, it is crucial to research how and which distinct industry domains have contributed to establish this relatively new industry. The first two stages of industry convergence (knowledge diffusion and consolidation) are measured by means of patent analysis. First, the extent of knowledge diffusion within the medical nutrition industry is graphed in a patent citation interrelations network. Subsequently the consolidation based on technological convergence is determined by means of patent co-classification. Furthermore, the medical nutrition core domain and technology interrelations are measured by means of a cross impact analysis. This study proves that the medical nutrition industry is a result of food and pharma convergence. It is therefore crucial for medical nutrition companies to effectively monitor technological developments within as well as across industry boundaries. This study further reveals that although the medical nutrition industry's core technology domain is food, technological development is mainly driven by pharmaceutical/pharmacological technologies Additionally, the results indicate that the industry has surpassed the knowledge diffusion stage of convergence, and is currently in the consolidation phase of industry convergence. Nevertheless, while the medical nutrition can be classified as an industry in an advanced phase of convergence, one cannot predict that the pharma and food industry segments will completely converge or whether the medical industry will become an individual successful industry.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Esther S. Pronker wishes to declare that she is employed by Viroclinics Biosciences BV, a spin out of Erasmus MC. However, for clarification, no materials or support were received from the company, and no agreements were in place concerning the execution or publication of this work. There are no patents or products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Industries situated at the food-pharma interface. Adapted from .
Figure 2
Figure 2. Linear model of convergence adapted from –,.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Research framework.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Knowledge diffusion within the MN industry - Network of the main patents (coded company, patent number - application year).
Visualization presents the backward citing between main patents of MN companies. This network visualizes those patents that are linked. Symbols indicate the 5 MN companies; The direction of the arrow indicates the cited patent.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Evolution of single domains versus different domain convergence in MN – MN cannot be classified as a single domain but predominantly as a convergence between different domains.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Food-Pharma dominates the domain convergence in MN - Selection of top 5 converging domains from 1989 up to 2013 in MN.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Grouping of the technology pairs in the MN industry, Network graph of bidirectional and unidirectional impact within the MN industry (1984–2013).
Figure 8
Figure 8. Front end of innovation activities in converging industries.
Adapted from .
Figure 9
Figure 9. Categorization of MN industry convergence, adapted from .
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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