For the third time in the past 12 months, Nestlé Health Science, a division of the Nestlé Group, has invested in Seres Therapeutics, a drug development company specialising in microbiome therapeutics. Under the new agreement, Nestlé will pay $120m to exclusively sell product candidates for inflammatory bowel disease and clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in markets outside of the US and Canada.

Massachusetts-based Seres will maintain rights for the North American market, where it plans to establish its own commercial enterprise.

Nestlé also invested $65m in January 2015, in addition to purchasing an 18-percent stake in Seres when it went public last June.

Founded in 2010, Seres acts as a platform for the creation of medicines aimed at treating conditions related to dysbiosis – microbial imbalance. Through its research into micro-interactions, known as the human microbiome, Seres’ work targets functional deficiencies in order to re-establish a healthy microbiome.

As part of the deal, Nestlé has agreed to assist Seres’ development efforts, including covering 33 percent of expenses for worldwide Phase III studies of three of the firm’s drug candidates. According to Reuters, Nestlé’s financial contributions could reach $1.9bn in the coming 15 years.

Nestlé’s latest investment marks a strong push into healthcare, demonstrating the group’s overriding strategy to become a world leader in nutrition, health and wellness. Through Nestlé Health Science, an entity that became operational in 2011, the group hopes to establish a new market between pharmaceuticals and good, and “create a new role for nutrition in disease prevention and management”.