Along this line of acquisitions of small reliable nutritional supplement companies comes an alert in 2012 by Life Extension, in William Faloon's
As We See It column... as he says, "being gobbled up by corporate behemoths. So...beware that what you formerly enjoyed as reliable may not be the case now ...here are a few changes...
He says: " As the public discovers the disease-preventing properties of nutrients, large corporations realize they have fallen behind the curve. A look at the primitive formulations of Centrum (r) and One-A-Day (R) provides a stark example of what happens when drug companies try to make effective diatary supplements. "
Disturbing trends:
New Chapter by Proctor and Gamble - world's largest consumer products company
Alacer (Maker of Emergen-C). bought out by Pfizer. 9 World's largest Drug Company)
P& G who make Tide and Pringles potato chips will soon be bringing you supplements under New Chapter's brand...He says, " no need to panic... founders of New Chapter will stay on for a while and it will be run for now as an independent subsidiary of P &G which usually works until the corporate cost-butters come in to find ways to earn more money from their acquisition."
Solgar - one a bedrock of nutritonal credibility - purchased by NBTY - formerly Nature's Bounty which was then sold to private equity giant Carlyle Group in 2010 for $ billion.
GNC was purchased in 1999 by Royal Numico and in 2003 Numico sold GNC at a huge loss to a private-equity firm Apollo Management. In 2007 Apollo Sold GNC to Ontario Teachers Pension Plan...and in April 2011, GNC became a publically traded corporation again.
William Faloon concludes that " large corporatins lack the agility, expertise and commitment to enable humans to stave off aging-related disase."
Source: Life Extension.. August 2012
Jackie