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Obesogenic Diet – The High-Calorie Diet For Gaining Weight and Muscle

When you say diet, you usually mean weight loss. The high-calorie diet is a departure from this rule! This particular diet program does not slim down the figure, but on the contrary gives it a more generous shape.

What is an Obesogenic diet?

In the context of a so-called “normal” diet, an adult woman consumes an average of 1,800 calories per day. The high-calorie diet, as its name indicates, consists of significantly increasing the number of calories consumed daily. These calories are close to 3,000. The goal? To quickly gain weight in fat mass, but also in muscle mass.

Normally, the body stores energy reserves from which it draws when needed. The high-calorie diet will simply allow you to increase the calories available in your body. In other words, by adopting this dietary program, you are proposing to your body to consume more calories than it actually expends.

The reasons for adopting this atypical diet are varied. It can be followed in case of a fast metabolism: the body burns so quickly the calories consumed that it can store almost no fat reserves. As a result, it remains excessively thin. This is even more true when there is a regular practice of sports. The high-calorie diet therefore helps to harmonize the figure thanks to voluptuous shapes judiciously located (buttocks, thighs, arms or legs). It can also help to regain a few pounds lost after a digestive infection (gastric ulcer), a hormonal imbalance (hyperthyroidism for example), following a psychological problem (depression, intense stress, nervous fatigue) or neurological problems.

The high-calorie diet, in practice

Contrary to what one might be tempted to imagine, the high calorie diet does not consist of increasing one’s consumption of fats. Needless to say, in the long term, eating only fast food, French fries, pizza, cheese, cold cuts or even dishes cooked with an excess of fat, presents considerable health risks (cardiovascular diseases, cholesterol or high blood pressure).

The high-calorie diet, on the other hand, requires a healthy and balanced diet. On a daily basis, the calorie intake should ideally be 50% carbohydrates, 25% fat and 25% carbohydrates.

In this diet, the number of meals is increased. Also, it is recommended to have a snack in the middle of the morning and in the middle of the afternoon. For these gourmet breaks, choose a dairy product, a cereal bar and a fruit, preferably fresh.

Menu idea

Naturally, the quantities of calories consumed during the day are introduced into the diet gradually. It’s not about making yourself sick! Like all diets, this program should ideally be followed by a dietician or nutritionist. You will thus benefit from the help, support and advice of a qualified professional.

  • Breakfast: buttered bread, an egg or a portion of cheese, fresh fruit juice;
  • Morning snack: a piece of fresh fruit with dry cookies;
  • Lunch: a portion of meat or fish with carbohydrates (pasta, corn, rice, steamed potatoes or lentils) cooked with a little fat, a portion of vegetables, cheese and fresh fruit;
  • Afternoon snack: yogurt or cottage cheese, fruit and a cereal bar;
  • Dinner: eggs or a portion of meat or fish with, like breakfast, a portion of carbohydrates and a portion of vegetables, bread, a portion of cheese and a piece of fruit.



Can you take Zinc and Vitamin C together?

The answer is Yes. Vitamin C and Zinc act in synergy and complement each other perfectly. Our body has an important need for vitamin C and the recommended intake is between 60 and 100 mg per day (even more in winter). As this vitamin is not synthesized by our body, it must be provided by the diet. It has a multiple roles in our body, in particular, it increases resistance to infections and facilitates physical effort.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published in the EFSA Journal the cause and effect relationship between zinc and the immune system. Like vitamin C, Zinc plays a central role in the proper functioning of the immune system as it is involved in many mechanisms of the immune response.

Vitamin C and Zinc: a powerful combination for our immune system

Vitamins and oligo-elements are essential throughout the year but are even more so during the winter. Although the body can cope perfectly well with a temporary deficiency of one or other of these precious substances, an additional contribution is sometimes judicious. For example, the combined action of Vitamin C and Zinc is particularly effective for the immune system.

The immune system, our best defense

Our immune system is there to protect our body against various external attacks, it has a double-action both externally and internally. In fact, when a foreign body attacks, the defense mechanisms are automatically activated. Various means are then implemented to defend themselves:

The immune response will bring into play physical barriers to protect itself from an invasion

The immediate defense system called “innate immunity” will intervene during a virus intrusion. Whereas the “adaptive immune” response will then take place. This last stage is later and has a “memory” that allows it to recognize foreign agents in the future

Maintaining your immune system

Vitamins and minerals are essential elements for the normal functioning of our immune system. Of particular interest are vitamin C and zinc. They contribute to the defense of the body by protecting it from oxidative stress generated to eliminate foreign agents. Several studies have shown a beneficial effect of vitamin C and zinc during respiratory infectious episodes, particularly in populations at risk of deficiency. Subsequently, WHO and UNICEF have recommended zinc supplementation for children at risk of deficiency. A balanced diet should be sufficient to combat deficiency episodes. However, during the winter season, which is generally less energetic and lacking in vegetables and fruit, it is advisable to enrich one’s diet with natural elements to meet the new needs of winter.

Sources:

Wintergerst, E.S., Maggini, S. and Hornig, D.H., 2006. Immune-enhancing role of vitamin C and zinc and effect on clinical conditions. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism50(2), pp.85-94.

Candan, F., Gültekin, F. and Candan, F., 2002. Effect of vitamin C and zinc on osmotic fragility and lipid peroxidation in zinc‐deficient haemodialysis patients. Cell Biochemistry and Function20(2), pp.95-98.




How to Get Rid of Obesogens (Environmental Factors)

For years, doctors have told their obese patients in good faith that all it takes to solve the problem is the will to diet. Recent research shows that it is not that simple. Beware, warns Sylvie Benkemoun, clinical psychologist and vice-president of the Allegro Fortissimo association, “some practitioners still believe that losing weight is possible for everyone. And many patients, at each meeting with a new “specialist” still hope to have found the miracle solution”.

Do we become obese because of our individual behavior or is obesity a disease of society? This question is being debated and is at the heart of preventive strategies. Research shows that obesity is multifactorial. Innate (genetic) or acquired (e.g. during intrauterine life) predispositions explain why everyone’s vulnerability to an “obesogenic” environment or obesogens is different.

Our lifestyle is conducive to weight gain. The omnipresence of food and the pressure of advertising, encourage us to eat beyond our needs and hunger. Moreover, the industrialization of food has led to an increase in portions (large squares of chocolate, XXL hamburgers, “magnum” size ice cream) and the caloric density of food (concentrated in fat and/or sugar). The more sedentary we are, the more unbalanced our energy balance becomes. Urbanization, the evolution of jobs and leisure activities, and even the possibility of heating the house well, all go in the direction of reducing expenses.

The solution lies in prevention

Although researchers are well aware of the abnormalities of adipose tissue caused by obesity, their work has not yet led to the development of drugs. Hence the importance of prevention, to be implemented as early as possible, before obesity is established, and even more so if there is a predisposition in the family.

Two axes are essential and complementary: diet (eat a balanced diet, eat 3 to 4 meals a day at more or less regular times, focus on foods rich in fiber…) and physical activity (at least 30 minutes a day on average, whether it is walking or sports).

If you feel that you gain weight easily, or if you have a few pounds to lose, it is in your best interest to ask a health professional, doctor or dietician for advice. But above all, don’t start the latest diet in vogue: according to a recent report by the Anses, not only are restrictive diets deficient, but they also cause weight gain in 85% of cases*. For children, diets should be banned. But it is important to follow the evolution of their body mass index curve and to consult a doctor if necessary to restore balance in their meals. Finally, if you are not a sportsman, before starting a discipline, it is preferable to see your doctor, or even to do an effort test.

Since the environment in which we live is “obesogenic”, the public authorities are investing in prevention. “The incentive to physical activity will be a strong axis of the PNNS 3 which will be unveiled this spring”, warns Pr Serge Hercberg, who coordinates the National Nutrition Health Program since the beginning. “This means facilitating exercise in daily life: by increasing the number of walking and cycling routes, with the help of local authorities, and by making bicycles available, such as the Velib’ in Paris… Also to identify and make more accessible to the public existing sports activities. Another aspect of the PNNS is to continue the work already undertaken with the food industry, so that more of them commit, through charters, to improve the nutritional balance of their products (less fat/sugar/salt). Finally, among the many measures proposed to fight against social inequality in the field of nutrition, the experts recommend regulating advertising aimed at young people (studies have shown that it influences their dietary behavior), and distributing coupons to the most disadvantaged people to buy fruit and vegetables.




Obesogenic Diet – High calorie diet to gain weight

Weight loss refers to a significant loss of weight that can lead to thinness. Leanness can be voluntary or involuntary. We speak of thinness when the body mass index (BMI) is below 18. The high-calorie diet allows you to gain weight in order to regain a healthy weight. Its objective is to stimulate the appetite, to integrate high calorie foods and to avoid low energy density foods.

The key points of the high-calorie (obesogenic) diet to gain weight:

  • Consume high energy density foods
  • Stimulate your appetite
  • Snacking
  • Avoid low energy density and low fat products
  • Engage in moderate physical activity

Benefits of the obesogenic diet

The high-calorie diet or obesogenic diet is a high-calorie diet that must provide, on average, 500 calories more than the traditional diet.

The high-calorie diet allows you to:

  • Stimulate the appetite
  • Consume foods with high energy density
  • Limit foods with very low energy density
  • Increase calorie intake without increasing the volume of meals
  • Incorporate snacks
  • Engage in moderate physical activity

Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is a real problem for many people. While losing weight can be difficult, gaining a few pounds is just as difficult. While this may seem strange to most, it is a reality.

A fast metabolism problem?

Some people burn calories faster than others. These people are known as fast metabolizers. For these people, it is difficult to achieve and maintain a healthy, stable weight. The speed of metabolism is linked to genetic inheritance but can also be accelerated by various factors such as stress, temperature variations, nicotine, caffeine and muscle density. It is important to note that certain life situations such as illness can lead to a greater consumption of calories by the body as it tries to defend itself. These particular cases can lead to weight loss, sometimes very significant: this is the case of cancer, hyperthyroidism, serious burns, etc.

Finally, involuntary weight loss can be due to malabsorption of nutrients caused by certain pathologies such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease or celiac disease.

A high-calorie diet is recommended for people who need to gain weight, regardless of the reason for the difficulty in gaining weight. The goal is to increase caloric intake by 500 calories per day, to achieve a weight gain of 500g per week. Although all foods are allowed, it is preferable to eat as balanced as possible. The goal is not to eat more sweets and fried foods, for example. The following advice is not a miracle solution; gaining weight sometimes requires time and perseverance.

Dietary recommendations

Wondering how to gain weight quickly? Here are some high-calorie foods and nutritional strategies that will help you gain weight gradually. On the contrary, you will find in this sheet the mistakes not to make if you have a fast metabolism.

High-calorie foods to include in your menus to gain weight

The following foods should be included in your menus to gain weight. They allow you to bring more calories to your body without increasing the volume of your meals. This section also presents some nutritional strategies to be implemented as part of the high calorie diet.

High energy density foods

The energy density of a food defines the amount of calories per gram of that food. Energy density is influenced by the water, fiber, sugar and fat content of the food. Water and fiber decrease energy density, while fat and sugar increase it.

With a high energy density diet, more calories are consumed for a certain volume. For people looking to gain weight, it is essential to choose foods with high energy density.

Here is a table of high energy density foods to include in a high calorie diet:

Categories Foods to eat
Fruits Dried fruits Banana Mango Categories Foods to eat Fruits Dried fruits Banana Mango Grape Cherries fruit nectar Lawyer olives canned fruit Vegetables Peas Parsnip Yam Potato Legumes Cereals products Bread Muffin Bread with nuts, olives or cheese Cereal bars Milk and Alternatives Cheese Cream Whole milk yogurts Whole milk Cream cheese soy yogurt Meats and substitutes Fatty fish (tuna, salmon, sardines, etc.) Liver Poultry thighs Beef Pork Lamb Eggs Others Oilseed butter Humus Vegetal oils Chocolate Homemade cookies and cakes Grape Cherries fruit nectar Lawyer olives canned fruit
Vegetables Peas Parsnip Yam Potato Legumes
Cereals products Bread Muffin Bread with nuts, olives or cheese Cereal bars
Milk and Alternatives Cheese Cream Whole milk yogurts Whole milk Cream cheese soy yogurt
Meats and substitutes Fatty fish (tuna, salmon, sardines, etc.) Liver Poultry thighs Beef Pork Lamb Eggs
Others Oilseed butter Humus Vegetal oils Chocolate Homemade cookies and cakes

Stimulate your appetite

It is possible to work up an appetite by paying attention to small details. But how can you stimulate your appetite to gain weight? Here are some tips.

  • Set a beautiful table with nice dishes
  • Take the meal outside if the weather permits
  • Add color to the plate by adding herbs and spices
  • Eat foods that give pleasure
  • Eat meals with people you like, so you tend to eat more
  • Try to be relaxed before eating
  • Accompany the meal with a glass of wine if your health permits
  • Start the meal with a glass of acidic juice (lemon, tomato, orange, etc.)
  • Take a walk or do some light exercise before the meal
  • Increase calorie intake without increasing volume
  • Large meals obviously promote weight gain. But you can also choose to add certain ingredients to your meals to increase the calorie intake without necessarily increasing the volume of the meal. This is ideal for people who have difficulty eating large quantities.

To make a meal high in calories, here are some tips:

  • Add a fatty substance systematically to your dishes after cooking: vegetable oil in the vegetables, in the starchy foods, in the soup or even on your soup.
  • Serve meat, poultry and fish with a fatty sauce
  • Add avocados, olives, nuts and cheese cubes to salads
  • Add nuts and dried fruit to baked goods
  • Sprinkle parmesan or grated cheese on pasta, vegetables and soups
  • Add egg yolk to dishes
  • Add powdered milk to soups, cream desserts and milk
  • Add honey to desserts and cereals
  • Drink juice, milk or syrups throughout the day instead of water
  • Incorporate cream into dishes and desserts whenever possible: in soups, fruit salads, yogurt, etc.



Obesogens and Obesogens Detox

Introduction

An obesogen is a chemical or physical agent that causes obesity in an individual. Environmental factors are sometimes referred to as ” obesogens “, for example, studies have shown that exposure to particulate air pollution increases the risk of obesity, probably for cardiovascular reasons. Obesogenic factors have been suspected and then detected (e.g. butyltin derivatives) in the human body and studied by epidemiologists for a long time (Kirk, 2010).

the term was originally invented by Bruce Blumberg, a professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California at Irvine. “The word just kind of came to me,” he explains. In 2003, he discovered a causal link between increased weight and tributyltin, a wood preservative applied to ship keels that remains in the ocean. While his research group was studying how certain endocrine disruptors, including tributyltin, can cause sex reversion in fish, they discovered that the chemical activated a hormone receptor called PPAR gamma, which is the master regulator of fat cell development. It regulates the fate of stromatolite multipotent stem cells to predispose them to produce fat instead of bone tissue. This study was published in 2006.

“In mice, we found that exposure to tributyltin before birth predisposes these cells to become fat cells. Despite all our interventions to make them bone cells, they turned into fat cells,” explains Bruce Blumberg. Although we can’t verify the results of this finding in humans for safety reasons, we know that activation of PPAR gamma by the diabetes drugs Actos and Avandia causes weight gain in humans.”

According to the current state of knowledge, the number of fat cells in a person is programmed in the early stages of life. After that, the body will vigorously defend that number. To date, tributyltin is the only valid explanation for the causal link between increased weight and an endocrine disruptor. “However, we know of other chemicals that can produce fat cells, but we don’t yet know how they work.  Researchers are actively pursuing work in this area,” says Bruce Blumberg.

The best explanation for a causal link between low-dose prenatal exposure to endocrine disruptors and the development of obesity is found in animal research. A growing body of research shows that there is a significant response to human exposure to certain chemicals and weight gain. In addition to tributyltin, here are the chemicals that scientists are concerned about.

Obesogens

There are currently twenty chemicals known to cause us to gain weight. They include:

Bisphenol A (BPA)

Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalate we ingest from polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resin used in the manufacture of plastic food containers and the inner lining of cans and beverage bottles. Many countries have banned the use of BPA in plastic baby bottles because of concerns that exposure to BPA could affect newborns and small children. Exposure to levels of BPA in packaged foods such as bottled water, canned goods and baby food has subsequently been shown to be safe (Legeay, 2017).

Even though the chemical life span of BPA is relatively short, a lot of research is being done on it because we are exposed to it on a constant basis. Two Japanese studies published in 2002 and 2007 showed that BPA not only causes the conversion of cells into fat cells but also increases the amount of fat stored in these cells in mice.

In addition, according to a 2010 study published in Biotechnology Letters, it is believed that BPA and benzyl butyl phthalate, used in the manufacture of vinyl products to increase softness such as in children’s toys, may cause obesity, as does tributyltin, by activating PPAR gamma receptors and producing more fat cells. According to Health Canada, touching or licking these toys does not pose a health risk; however, prolonged contact with the mouth, such as sucking on an object, can be dangerous for a young child, depending on the amount of phthalate released from the product. In January 2011, Health Canada issued new regulations limiting the amount of phthalate in products or toys intended for children.

There is growing evidence that phthalate can influence metabolism. A 2008 study published in Toxicology looked at fetal exposure in rats to certain types of phthalate: diisobutyl phthalate, used in plastics and nail polish; butyl paraoxybenzoate, an antifungal agent in some cosmetics that is absorbed through the skin; and perfluorinated octanoate, which comes from sources as varied as industrial waste and stain-resistant carpeting. These compounds have been found to alter the levels of insulin and leptin, which play a role in metabolic programming.

Earlier this year, a human study published in Environmental Health Perspectives showed that higher levels of phthalate and BPA in the blood may be associated with poor functioning of the thyroid gland that controls metabolism.

Perfluorooctane Acid (PFOA)

This affects the thyroid gland and eventually our metabolism. It is found on non-stick frying pans, inside packages of microwave popcorn, and many other microwave ready meals (Martínez-Esquivel, 2022).

Pesticides

The main culprit in this case is a pesticide called atrazine, commonly found in tap water, which slows down thyroid metabolism (Martínez-Esquivel, 2022).

Nicotine

As if you needed another reason to quit smoking! Nicotine has been singled out for promoting obesity later in life. Pregnant mothers who smoke not only increase their risk of premature delivery, but also predispose their child to obesity while growing (Schneider, 2013).

Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

MSG, a common additive in processed foods, is a known obesogen.

High fructose corn syrup is a potent obesogen, making the liver insulin resistant and affecting the hormone leptin, which increases hunger (Bautista, 2019).

Some pharmaceuticals, including the diabetes drug Avandia and SSRI drugs (commonly used to treat depression and anxiety) are also obesogenic. Even so, don’t stop taking these medications without first discussing it with your doctor.

How to avoid obesogens

Follow the tips below to limit your exposure to harmful obesogens.

  • Buy eco-friendly pans that are non-stick and PFOA-free. If you use a Teflon pan, avoid using a metal spatula or scrubber to clean it. If it is scratched, do not use it again as this will release the chemicals in it.
  • Avoid microwave popcorn and replace it with air-popped popcorn.
  • Drink reverse osmosis or filtered water to reduce pesticide exposure.
  • Avoid air fresheners and scented candles unless they are naturally scented with essential oils. Try a diffuser with natural oils instead.
  • Open your windows as much as possible to air out the house.
  • Store your food and drinks in glass or stainless steel containers whenever possible. Look for BPA-free plastics.
  • Never heat plastics in the microwave because the heat releases the BPA into the food.
  • Buy canned foods that say “BPA-free” on the label.
  • Buy meats from your butcher that are wrapped in brown paper instead of plastic.

Obesogens detox

The two simplest actions are to reduce our daily exposure and improve the body’s detoxification and elimination systems while seeking to lose body fat and maintain a healthy body fat percentage between 9 and 14% for a man and 12 to 20% for a woman all year round.

Our advice to eliminate toxins: move more and sweat

For example, it is fundamental to move more during the day and to do sports even if you don’t like it, because it allows us to evacuate chemical molecules from our body and also to avoid their storage in fat. Indeed and as we have seen above, the chemicals are fat-soluble, which means that they are easily stored in our fat reserves.

During a rapid weight loss as is often the case in the spring when people eat better it is common that an excessive release of chemical molecules is released into the bloodstream along with the release of fat reserves, affecting thyroid function, appetite regulation and hormonal function! This is the reason why we need to move more, sweat, do sports. The whole of our metabolism works and evacuates more quickly the toxic molecules.

Our dietary advice to avoid endocrine disruptors:

  • Wash fruits and vegetables before preparation/consumption.
  • Store your leftovers in glass containers
  • Never reheat in a microwave in plastic packaging.
  • Eat vegetables and fruits in season (also for reasons of food intolerance),
  • Limit imported fruits and vegetables, especially those from Mexico, Spain or Eastern European countries where legislation on the use of pesticides is much more permissive and laxer at the moment.

Obesogens Detoxification Systems And Nutripure Supplements

The majority of detoxification processes take place in the liver. Our liver is a filter of our blood. So everything that circulates in the blood either after digestion or during a release (stress, sport etc) passes through the liver. In terms of detoxification the liver has 2 phases.

Phase 1 a large family of enzymes called cytochrome P450 that oxidize, reduce and hydrolyze molecules. These actions aim to remove or add an electron to the toxic molecules and thus make them more soluble in water thus facilitating their elimination by the kidneys or perspiration. These reactions require many vitamins of the B group, the presence of branched amino acids (BCAA) which will be used to manufacture glutamine, vitamin C and Coenzyme Q10.

Phase 2: After the operations of phase 1 the toxic intermediate molecules are more oxidizing than their original version making the elimination phase dangerous for the body. Indeed during its elimination, the toxic molecule can create damage on its way. This is the reason for the existence of phase 2 which is fundamental.

Thus, according to the nature of the toxic molecule to be eliminated, the liver can send the molecule for elimination or make it pass in phase 2. During this phase 2, the liver associates a molecule with the toxic molecule. We speak then of reaction of conjugation.

Which detox food supplements to use?

This phase requires a number of amino acids (glycine, taurine, glutamine, cysteine) as well as vitamins of the B group, selenium and magnesium, omega 3 and other molecules. In fact there are 8 different detoxification processes. The most important are sulfation, methylation, glucuronidation, acetylation and conjugation with glutathione, depending on the association of an amino acid with cofactors (vitamins, zinc, magnesium, selenium).

It is easy to understand the importance of a balanced diet and a daily intake of good quality proteins in the right quantity and, depending on the needs and circumstances, the use of certain food supplements.

Indeed, the intense use of detoxification functions linked to the quantity of toxic molecules and endocrine disruptors that we absorb, often leads to deficiencies in cofactors (B vitamins, minerals..). Consequently, the capacity to eliminate toxic molecules and thus an increased risk of accumulation of these molecules, increases in relation to the deficiencies in cofactor. In the same way, an insufficient protein and thus amino acid intake increases this risk.

Things are getting a little more complicated since we know today that not everyone has the same detoxification capacities genetically. Thus, in some people, these capacities are greater despite a bad diet and a bad lifestyle.

For others it is totally the opposite and the slightest deficiencies in vitamins, magnesium, and other micronutrients or amino acids (proteins) will have much more rapid and important repercussions in their capacity of detoxification and thus in their health.

What food supplements to eliminate toxins :

In the light of these different explanations our food supplements can help you to support the detoxification processes of the body in addition to your diet and physical activity necessary to evacuate the toxic molecules from the body:

  • 2 capsules of Multivitamins Provides vitamins of the B group, C, selenium, magnesium and Q10 (for the functioning of mitochondria)
  • 2 capsules of Magnesium+B6+Taurine Covers the recommended intake in addition to the multivitamin.
  • 3 capsules of Omega 3 Improve the functioning of the liver.
  • 30 to 60g/day of Whey Isolate Provides protein rich in BCAA and cysteine
  • 10gr of Glycine with the evening meal: direct contribution of this rare amino acid in the diet.
  • BCAA + GLUTAMINE during the training: facilitates the maintenance of a functioning of the liver post effort and improves the muscular recovery and the intestinal functioning.

The richness of micronutrients in our diet, as well as the good health of our gut and microbiota, are extremely important factors for the enzymatic functioning of our liver and ultimately for our ability to eliminate our waste.

Some fruits, vegetables have powerful actions in phases 1 and 2 of detoxification of your liver while having an important action at the intestinal level: this is the case of the cruciferous family (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and their lacto-fermented version or sprouted seeds), onions and garlic, raspberries, blueberries, rosemary, turmeric, ginger or cloves, green tea …

Works Cited

al, L. X. e., 2011. The environmental obesogen tributyltin chloride acts via peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma to induce adipogenesis in murine 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol, pp. 9-15.

Bautista, R. M. A. K. M. a. G. N., 2019. Obesity: Pathophysiology, monosodium glutamate-induced model and anti-obesity medicinal plants. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, Volume 111, pp. 503-516.

Kirk, S. P. T. a. M. T., 2010. Characterizing the obesogenic environment: the state of the evidence with directions for future research.. Obesity reviews, 11(2), pp. 109-117.

Legeay, S. a. F. S., 2017. Is bisphenol A an environmental obesogen. Fundamental & clinical pharmacology, 31(6), pp. 594-609.

Martínez-Esquivel, A. T.-S. D. a. C.-L. V., 2022. Impact of environmental pollution on the obesogenic environment. Nutrition Reviews.

Schneider, S. a. G. J., 2013. Neighbourhood deprivation and outlet density for tobacco, alcohol and fast food: first hints of obesogenic and addictive environments in Germany. Public health nutrition, pp. 1168-1177.




Top 4 Physical Exercises That Burn the Most Calories

There are several physical exercises that help burn calories quickly, the amount of calories you will burn depend on the duration of the exercise, pace, intensity, and your BMI.

#1 Running

According to Healthline, running is the most effective way to burn 652 – 965 calories per hour if your weight ranges between 125 – 185 lbs.

#2 High-knee running

Calories burned in 30 minutes: 240 to 355.5

#3 Butt kicks

Calories burned in 30 minutes: 240 to 355.5

#4 Mountain climbers

Calories burned in 30 minutes: 240 to 355.5

 

 




The Effectiveness of “Slimming Probiotics”

For several months, the link between the intestinal microbiota and body weight has been the subject of numerous studies and scientific papers. It is now recognized that an imbalance in the intestinal bacterial flora promotes weight gain. Conversely, rebalancing the intestinal microbiota using probiotics appears to be a promising and natural way to accelerate weight loss. As such, a research team from the Institute of Nutrition in Rio de Janeiro has just demonstrated the effectiveness of several slimming probiotics, including the Lactobacillus gasseri strain.

According to the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), probiotics are “living microorganisms that, when ingested in sufficient quantities, exert beneficial effects on health”. Research on this subject has identified thousands of different probiotics, of which the best known bacterial strains belong to the genera Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus.

Lactobacillus gasseri Probiotic and Weight loss

The weight-loss potential of the probiotic strain Lactobacillus gasseri has been confirmed by a systematic review of the scientific literature (Million et al., 2012) To confirm the effectiveness of this slimming probiotic, more than 1,500 publications were selected and reviewed. At the end of the analysis, fourteen randomized double-blind studies were selected to limit the risk of biased results. Among them are studies conducted on animal models and clinical trials in humans. Regardless of the method used, these studies concluded that weight loss was observed in may individuals who have received Lactobacillus gasseri supplements, in particular, a decrease in body mass index (BMI). These positive results have led to the development of supplements based on Lactobacillus gasseri. A European pioneer in nutritional supplementation, Super Smart has been marketing this slimming probiotic for many years in the form of DR capsules Caps™. Gastro-resistant, these capsules protect the probiotics from the acids contained in the stomach and ensure their release in the intestines.

The effectiveness of the slimming probiotic Lactobacillus gasseri is currently arousing great interest in the scientific community. And with good reason, since this bacterial strain appears to be a natural solution, safe and without side effects, to lose weight, regain a healthy weight and fight overweight. The preventive use of the probiotic strain Lactobacillus gasseri is supported by several positive scientific results. Published in the Journal of Nutritional Science, a study has confirmed and deepened the benefits of this bacterial strain within the body. In addition to its slimming effects, it helps strengthen the intestinal barrier and counteracts inflammation of adipose tissue, an inflammatory reaction involved in the occurrence of certain metabolic disorders.

References 

Million, M., Angelakis, E., Paul, M., Armougom, F., Leibovici, L. and Raoult, D., 2012. Comparative meta-analysis of the effect of Lactobacillus species on weight gain in humans and animals. Microbial pathogenesis53(2), pp.100-108.

Yun, S.I., Park, H.O. and Kang, J.H., 2009. Effect of Lactobacillus gasseri BNR17 on blood glucose levels and body weight in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes. Journal of applied microbiology107(5), pp.1681-1686.




Strategic Management & Leadership Analysis in a Pharmaceutical Company

SAIDAL SARL Group is a pharmaceutical manufacturer in Algeria which has a history of more than 30 years. But after 2010 the company has faced financial crisis slowly which brought it to the level of bankruptcy. This was a gradual change and at a glance, it can be identified that if closely monitored the disaster would have been controlled. Now that it has happened, it needed to implement a strategical plan to set SAIDAL in a new direction to get its body back on track with a greater goal to achieve more.

Recent studies have shown that the main reasons for the disaster are:  the inappropriate resource allocation or investments, lack of monitoring of finances, structural errors of the newly appointed top management in 2010, also strategic decisions, errors in the value chain, etc. These were obtained by the external and internal environment analysis.

The aim of this work is above all to formulate a new business strategy R&D-open-innovation-oriented and focused on biotechnology to face challenges affecting the company’s global performance. Through critical analysis, I’ll try to highlight the relationships that might exist between this strategy, stakeholder expectations and the organizational effectiveness, and thus elaborate based on other similar and successful business models a reasonable implementation plan for the real-world environment that would make such a transition possible.

Introduction

What is SAIDAL Group?

SAIDAL Group is a pharmaceutical company in Algeria currently with a Capital of 2.5 Billion Dinars. 80 percent of SAIDAL Group’s capital is owned by the state and the remaining 20 percent were sold to institutional investors and individuals in 1999. The restructuring process in 1997 contributed to its development into a manufacturing company with three divisions (Pharmaceutical, Antibiotics, and Biotech).

Mission

  • Ensure strategic stability and profitability in safeguarding its financial flexibility, maintaining constant development of its goods ‘ quality, attaining its growth targets and improving its human capital.
  • Achieve the State’s defined goals as the primary owner/shareholder.

Why SAIDAL Group?

SAIDAL group is a company with a greater history in the pharmaceutical industry of Algeria as well in the international context. From its starting in the year 1985 up until around 2010 it performed well, but now the company is in a phase of declining where the strategic decline has commenced due to several reasons. Therefore, for the assignment this organization becomes an ideal candidate and in the next chapters’ evaluation of the current strategic position of the company will be analyzed along with the pros and cons that will give out good understanding where the company will be heading. Next, strategic suggestions and a fully pledged plan will be presented.

Current Strategic Position of the Company

SAIDAL Group was performing well in the initial stages prior to 2010 before the restructure was introduced. In the year 2017, the company revenue was only estimated at 84 USD Million and that was not enough to cover their investment made from the year 2010 150 USD million per annum. Therefore, by the year 2017 SAIDAL group is at a level of bankruptcy. At that moment the company had 2357 employees on board  (SARL, 2017).

Figure 2- SAIDAL Group Revenue 2006 – 2017

The concept of a firm in difficulty has only recently been introduced. Although this term has taken over from the traditional term “bankruptcy”, the two terms are not superimposable and do not in any way reflect the same legal approach. A firm goes through several stages before reaching the irremediable stage of bankruptcy.

A failure is first and foremost an economic event since it is the result of the company’s economic and financial difficulties. However, it is also a legal event, given the importance of the law in initiating recovery measures. Thus, it seems appropriate to devote a part of the present work to the legal framework of the Algerian company in difficulty.

SAIDAL group was performing well in the earlier stage but the turning point of this kind of bankruptcy occurred at the point of changes that were introduced in the year 2010 by the change of the top management.

SAIDL was it running smoothly?

The concept of a firm in difficulty presupposes that the firm has ceased to operate smoothly. A break in the continuity of its operations has occurred, will occur or is likely to occur. Similarly, SAIDAL was operating much smoothly prior to 2010 as the company was having three subsidiaries to operate separately in the pharma sector, antibiotic sector and biotic sector. During that time, their operation was much successful and the sales were growing rapidly with each year 1.23% increase in acquiring the international market especially in the South Asian region which was a much difficult entry for the other competitors. At the beginning of the year, 2017 firm was therefore not yet in a state of cessation of payments, characterized by the impossibility of meeting current liabilities out of available assets.

Jean Brilman adopts a fairly broad concept of a company in difficulty: “it is not only a company that is in financial difficulty (the immediate consequence of other, much deeper problems), it is also a company that, encountering or anticipating difficulties, takes immediate action to avoid financial problems: little or no profitability, difficult economic conditions, declining business volume, deterioration in the social climate, conflicts, etc.” (Brilman, 1978). Similar is what happened for SAIDAL at the initial stages there financial states were at a greater level as they had a lot of financial reserves stored from the earlier profit. Their liquidity ratios were at a greater level with a value of more than one  (SARL, 2017).

Beyond that, the notion of a company in difficulty does not necessarily refer to the idea of financial difficulties but reflects a different approach to the operating incidents that companies may encounter. Indeed, it incorporates an essential idea: prevention. SAIDAL management understood the situation by the year 2015 and took action to fix the issue but the prevention was not done. Actually what lacked in risk management. Therefore we can conclude that SAIDAL SARL was running very well and had a greater throwback due to some reason, that is what needed to be analyzed using this report.

The failure process of SAIDAL Group

Figure 3 – Failure process in a nutshell

As per (James Kolari, 2002) failure process of a large organization happens first in terms of economic, commercial and then followed by financial decline. SAIDAL group is an ideal example for such a consecutive failure or bankruptcy in their domain and the saddest part it while all of this process is happening none of the top management noticed any of these or no action was taken to fix this. Following are the details of the step by step financial failure of SAIDAL group according to their report (SAIDAL SARL, 2017).

Economic regression

The company’s performance is based on three factors which are: production cost, quantities sold and prices. Each of these factors is subject to the constraints of environmental variations. Depending on the nature of its activity and its situation in its environment, the company’s performance is more or less sensitive to some events: increase in the prices of raw materials, wage increases, competition, technological innovation.

Table 1- The most important investments in the pharmaceutical sector in Algeria (Ghebbi, 2010)

Company Country Investment in USD Rank
Sanofi-Aventis France 320 Million #1
Hikma Pharma Jordan 165 Million #2
Saidal Algeria 149 Million #3
GSK United Kingdom 142 Million #4
Novartis Switzerland 129 Million #5
Pfizer United States 111 Million #6
Novo Nordisk Denmark 85 Million #7
MSD United States 85 Million #8
Roche diagnostics France 85 Million #9

The new management program was appointed in the year 2010, established with the aim of expanding the business at SAIDAL. The directorial board took some kind of regressive investment decisions to work in line with the other competitors in the industry and come ahead of the competition.

  • Increasing investment to establish a new factory with USD 100 million
  • Increased Research and development investment up to 40 USD million from 20 USD million which was the earlier

While all of that investment was increased there was an increase in the mineral prices where the materials needed for pharmaceutical manufacture like Rutile, Zincite, Periclase, Hematite, etc were increased in price due to new tax revisions. Therefore the economic regression began for the SAIDAL.

Table 2 – SAIDAL  R & D Expediture Chnage – 2001 -2008

Indicator 2001 2008
Workforce by category

·                     Executives

·                     Supervisors

·                     Agents

 

1103

1371

938

 

1883

2004

583

% of employees in R&D 4,86% 6%
Average monthly gross pay per employee, DA 32,000 DA 57,000 DA
% of trained employees in one year 40.41% 39.71%
% Training expenses 0.59% 0.39%
Training budget/Wage bill % 2.36% 1.47%
Average training expenditure per trained employee, DA 22,480 DA 25,352 DA
Number of accidents at work weighted by severity rate 20.8 12
Source: academia.edu

Commercial decline

It may be abrupt, gradual or latent and concealed. It is characterized by a fall in sales or a drop in the gross margin rate, or both successively or simultaneously. Due to the above-mentioned reasons, the cost of production increased at SAIDAL making the average margin per pharmaceutical, biotic, and antibiotic to decline up to 17%, 19%, 15% respectively. Earlier these values were 38%, 43%, 32%. That became a huge drop for the company and gradually up until 2017 these values have dropped gradually. As the sales volume increased a little there was a remarkable revenue but that was not enough to cover the cost of the sales and the investment.

Financial decline

If the company does not react, is not flexible and cannot find new markets, while reducing its structural costs, then a financial decline might begin. It is most often the consequence of an uncontrolled commercial decline. The insufficient margin no longer allows the company to cover its structural costs (Senturk, et al., 2006). Similarly, SAIDAL lost the margin making the path to loss of markets and the works part is that there their investments has gone wrong making company much more susceptible for the bankruptcy. By the year of 2017, their liquidity has gone down, having a very low quick ratio in terms of finance and the top line bottom both growths has declined.

Strategic Management

According to Alfred Chandler, a strategy is an act of determining the fundamental long-term goals and objectives, putting in place the actions and allocating the necessary resources to achieve those goals (Chandler, 1990). Prior to developing a strategy, we should find out where an organization lies now and what are the factors that will affect the current status and successful strategic management in managing these factors effectively and efficiently to gain competitive advantage and bottom-line growth.

Strategic Management Process

The strategic management process consists of five main steps: 1) Initial analysis (understanding the strategic context) 2) Internal and external analysis (planning the strategic approach, analyzing environment, resources, identifying opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses) 3) Formulation of the business strategy (developing a strategy) 4) Implementation 5) Evaluation of the results (Figure 1).

Figure 4. Business Strategy Framework

Strategic management is a continuous and systematic process during which the company’s leaders make decisions that will have consequences in the future, develop plans and programs to implement the decisions and achieve the set objectives, and finally, evaluate performance. It is also a unique opportunity to unite management, employees and various stakeholders as well as customers in a common reflection to understand where is the company and where it wants to go (Nag, et al., 2007).

Throughout the strategic management process, the company must focus on the needs (expressed and experienced) and expectations (expressed and unexpressed) of customers (current and future) and stakeholders (suppliers, human resources, management, partners, shareholders) in order to offer them satisfactory products and services meeting their needs and expectations (Riege, 2005).

Environmental Analysis of SAIDAL Group

Figure 5. The Components of a Business Environment

The survival of the company is directly linked to its dependence on external actors. The importance of the company’s external environment can be understood here in terms of the extent to which it has developed a certain degree of dependency on its environment.

Macro Environment

A company’s analysis of the environment has a twofold objective:

  • to evaluate the various elements that may affect its activity;
  • to identify environmental opportunities or threats;
  • to identify external factors over which the company has no control and which also influences its orientation.

We must therefore briefly analyze the external environmental factors (micro) that have or could have an influence on the company’s growth and profitability prospects as well as on its situation in the market. The analysis of the external environment will lead to identifying external market opportunities as well as external threats that could affect the company’s operations in the short, medium or long term.

PESTLE Analysis of SAIDAL Group

In business strategy, the PESTLE analysis (political, economic, sociological, technological, environmental and legal) is a model for identifying the influence (negative/positive) that macro-environmental factors can exert on a company (Holland, et al., 2004). However, the PESTEL or PESTLE analysis is not a reference, but a mnemonic tool that makes it possible to carry out an external analysis more simply and thus be able to produce a SWOT matrix.

SAIDAL and its competitors are generally companies that are not really known and established in a specific field that is difficult to grasp, partly because of the complexity of the products manufactured and sold and partly because of their equally difficult environment.

Policy

A company like SAIDAL is present in multiple countries and is also active in a market that is facing both globalization and health issues.

Thus, in addition to having to deal with the political environments of trade and tax laws, SAIDAL must also comply with the social protection requirements of the countries it serves.

Economic

The growth rate is gradually picking up again in most countries in the world, even if it remains insignificant (in Algeria, it is around 1.5% according to World Bank (WorldBank, 2019)). On the other hand, developing countries are an increasingly important target for any market, and even more so for pharmaceutical companies.

Socio-cultural

In Algeria, as in other countries, the consumption of medicines is an increasingly important part of health care expenditure and weighs heavily on health insurance, household, and state funds. This growth is the result of several factors and particularly of the socio-cultural transition that has characterized the Algerian society in recent years (Farida & Brahim, 2012).

Technological

Technology is the source of business power. In order to control the local pharmaceutical market, SAIDAL uses the latest technology, its control over the sources of supply of raw materials and intermediate products and over marketing networks, its management machine, its easy access to financial markets, etc. However, the industrial capacity of its subsidiaries operating outside the country is oriented towards products that consume imported pharmaceutical substances at prices that are often abusive.

Ecological

This is one of the black spots: the company being in the ecological trend, the synthetic drug has a bad image, in addition to coming from production lines mixing non-renewable elements such as solvents, or organic waste.

Legal

Fortunately, the pharmaceutical market is closely monitored in many aspects. SAIDAL’s business is significantly affected by patents, drugs, and their respective marketing authorizations, either under medical prescription or over-the-counter. It is one of the most challenging environments in which to operate, without a doubt.

Also, the newly introduced tax system for the pharmaceutical raw materials has become much of a burden for the industry.

Porters Five Forces Analysis of SAIDAL Group

Porter’s Five forces is a model that defines and analyzes five strategic powers affecting any market and helping to identify the vulnerabilities and strengths of a business. The study of the Five Forces is also used to describe the function of a market when deciding on business strategy. When it comes to strategic position determination of an organization like SAIDAL this step is very crucial to get an understanding of the current pharmaceutical industry status in Algeria.

Bargaining power of the buyers

The bargaining power of the buyers is very high as the number of patients, doctors and hospitals is very high throughout Algeria and also in the international context. Other than that the switching cost from one brand to another is very low in this industry in the majority of the drug types. It can be concluded that the bargaining power in this industry is very high.

Bargaining power of the suppliers

The bargaining power of the suppliers is very low in this context and that happens as there is much more possibility for the import of raw material rather than sourcing locally. But the same thing caused the decline of SAIDAL due to tax changes.

Threat of substitutes

This is very low in this industry as most of the products are generic items and the only limited number of alternative treatments available such as implants, surgery, homeopathic therapies, etc.

Risk of new entrants

There is a long lead time involved in the research and development in this industry, thing SAIDAL SARL has successfully completed years ago, other than that need of distribution channels, marketing teams, patent portfolio databases along with higher investment make new entrants a nightmare to this industry.

Rivalry among established firms

There are more than 20 players registered in this industry of Algeria which is considered as large scale / commercial pharmaceutical producers. Therefore the price competition is so much along with the new product introduction which makes the company with the highest technological Research & Development teams win. Also one of the major rules in this industry is the ‘first to market’ rule that makes a company succeed as well as decline fast.

So it is evident that SAIDAL group has taken above strategic decisions by identifying how the market works but the problem is that they didn’t identify the other factors and the internal environment of the business.

Micro Environment

SWOT Analysis of SAIDAL Group

Table 3- SWOT Analysis of SAIDAL Group

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
Market leader in the latest generation of antibiotics

 

Sales Increase

Financial stability (lexpressiondz.com, 2017)

Decrease in R&D

 

Higher employee turnover ( lower retentions)

Increase in health issues

 

Rising population and living standards

 

The exponential growth of products on the biopharmaceutical market (vaccines, biotechnologies, etc.)

 

International possibilities in the Asian region

Generic drugs

Complex and rigorous regulations related to drug registration

 

Increase in counterfeiting

 

The government revised the tax system

 

 

The strategic management key is to converts threats and weaknesses of the SAIDAL Group into opportunities in order to get out of the level of bankruptcy.

Business Strategy

Strategic Objectives

The following objectives were set in order to get out of the current financial situation by taking the strategic planning duration to be five years. Findings from the internal and external analysis have been used for the formulation,

  • Increase the profit margin of every product type to be more than 30% by adapting an operational optimization process by the year 2022
  • Reach the net profit of 400 USD million by the year 2022
  • Increase the efficiency of the R & D division by innovation-based techniques with the aim of giving out minimum new product per year
  • Increase the local market share to 40 % by the year 2022 (currently 16% market share)
  • International market acquisition in terms of 20% total sales acquisition by the end of the year 2022

A Research and Development strategy (Functional Strategy) to Face the Current challenges

SAIDAL group, as well as the others in the pharmaceutical industry traditionally intensively based on R&D, has gone through a series of institutional and technological “shocks”. However, the core leadership of the respective department has remained sufficiently small and stable over a long period of time.

Industrial dynamics in the pharmaceutical industry are intimately linked to three specific key factors:

The nature of drug discovery processes, otherwise the properties of the technological opportunity space and the research procedures by which firms explore this space.

The fragmented nature of the relevant markets where research activities are relatively limited. Specifically, innovation processes are characterized by a long period of time during which the cumulative dimension is quite small and by “quasi-random” research procedures (random screening). Thus, innovation in one market (or therapeutic class) does not induce a greater probability of success in another market.

The type of competition and the role of patents. The pharmaceutical field is representative of those sectors where patent applications or models reasonably affect the competitive process.

Therefore, the major task for achieving the strategical success of the SAIDAL group depends on the hands of the research and development team and therefore this strategic plan mainly focuses on creating R&D stronger to gain the above mentioned SMART strategic objectives.

Biotechnology, a strategic field to exploit

The future of the pharmaceutical industry is thus taking on a new face, that of the “multi-buster” model, manufacturing specialty products, more oriented towards personalized medicine focused on small populations. The first discoveries on the human genome have given new directions to pharmaceutical R&D. As a result, nearly half of the new treatments launched on the market since 2003 are derived from biotechnology (Bertrand, 2000).

Figure 6- Top 10 drug sales by Evaluate Pharma

This chart from a report of Evaluate Pharma, one of the top 10 pharmaceutical producers in the United States shows that the top 10 drugs by sales are all biotech products, in red sales in 2018, and the shadow in grey represents the sales in 2017.

Therefore the SAIDAL group has a greater opportunity to enter into biotech products which will be the greater solution for their financial crisis as when biotechnology is involved, the cost of production as well the demand rises up.

The strategic choice of open innovation in biotechnology

Biotechnology has created an unprecedented innovation crisis in the pharmaceutical industry. The skills required are more advanced and diversified, and competition is upstream. Due to employee turnover, many of the skilled employees has left the R&D division making a challenge for them to engage in innovation bases biotechnological pharmaceutical formation.

To stay in the race, the best option is to turn towards open innovation, through various practices: alliances with start-ups, research partnerships with peers and many more.

Competition is becoming more and more established upstream of the innovation process, making the need for an innovation cycle to be narrow or shorter so that it will keep SAIDAL in the loop. The competition takes place in the acquisition of scientific and technical knowledge, which is often present outside the company’s borders. Thus, even the most competent R&D organization needs to connect to external sources of knowledge in order to innovate. This is the theoretical concept of open innovation.

There are 26 universities within Algeria itself and among that there are 14 universities that have biotechnology facilities which make eventually the best hub for open innovation.

Redesigning the Value Chain

The traditional value chain of the SAIDAL Group is just straight forward and only involves very small parties and that makes loopholes which eventually lead to loss of revenue as well the inconsistencies in raw material acquisition.

Even though there are around 2300 employees in SAIDAL their distribution is therefore restricted mostly for procurement, production, and marketing which are the primary value chain components. But it needs to be incorporated also with other supporting activities. The modified value chain can be generated as follows:

Figure 7 – Proposed Value Chain of SAIDAL Group

This will include a direct involvement of human resource division for the handling of the talent acquisition and monitoring of the R&D and other major divisions and also the involvement of the Finance and control division to handle all of the financials Realtime allowing the use of resources effectively and efficiently.

The implementation plan

The creation of an implementation plan is structured along several axes that define the growth of the company. It is defined by the act of determining the fundamental long-term goals and objectives, implementing actions and allocating the resources needed to achieve those goals.

Gantt Chart of Implementation

Table 4 – SAIDAL Strategic Change Implementation Plan – Gantt

4.1 Resources allocation

Human resources: The pooling of the brainpower of researchers from the ‘Inflammation and Immunology’ Division, they will be assigned to work in cooperation with the chosen startup on the biosimilar drug with collaborative research with selected 5 universities in Algeria

 

Physical and technological resources: The pooling of devices and all materials to conduct research and development in a cooperative context along with the reach of international partnership with SAIDAL and the other giants in the western countries like USA and Germany.

Financial resources:

To establish the estimated cost of the project, a list the direct and indirect costs should be established:

Direct costs

  • Salaries of internally mobilized human resources, according to the hours planned for them to work on the project;
  • The cost of external human resources;
  • The cost of purchasing and/or renting equipment, supplies, and materials (rooms, computers, software, building materials, tools…);
  • Any travel expenses.

Indirect costs

  • Overheads (or operating costs): these are all costs of the project other than labor and material costs, i.e. accommodation, heating, communication, external services, etc.;
  • Management costs such as salaries for the company’s transversal services (administration, marketing, finance, accounting, etc.).

Conflicts and Issues in Implementation

This process becomes a radical change that needs to be implemented quickly in order to take back SAIDAL to the prosperous age that it had earlier giving up bankruptcy. Therefore, some kind of theory like Kurt Lewin’s Change Management needs to be adapted.

Kurt Lewin’s Change Management Model use in SAIDAL

Kurt Lewin’s change model has three steps that include unfreezing, change and refreeze.

Figure 8- Kurt Lewin’s Change Model

In the environment of SAIDAL this can be implemented in order to get the desired change, First, need to be done the unfreezing by first making the employees aware of what the situation that SAIDAL is currently in and why this change is needed. Then with the involvement of the top management itself, change can be introduced to the employees and they will embrace it willingly. Once the change is established it can be made to refreeze by providing some kind of incentives, bonuses, etc to them.

Projected Profit & Loss Account

Table 5- Projected Profit & Loss Account for SAIDAL Group 2020 – 2023

USD Million
  2020 2021 2022 2023
Income 450 640 850 1000
Cost of Sales 150 220 350 350
Gross Profit 300 420 500 650
Administration expenses 60 70 73 80
Marketing & Promotion 50 50 60 70
Other (20) (20) (30) (40)
130 140 163 190
Net Profit 170 280 337 460

Conclusion

It can be concluded that SAIDAL group was a very well-established group that had fallen finically up to bankruptcy due to lack of monitoring of their process and also due to value chain changes and the investments that are done without considering other factors. These reasons were justified with the internal and external analysis conducted and can be concluded that the organization needs a strategic change.  This change can be successfully implemented by doing a change to the structure of the company by paying more attention to the research and development department but with much monitoring of resource and fund allocation. The next strategic change is to implement structural change, involving human resource management to monitor and control talent acquisition and finance division to real-time control finance allocation. After implantation of these strategic changes successfully, it can be guaranteed that SAIDAL can reach the given strategic objectives in no time.

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Probiotics for Histamine Intolerance

Histamine intolerance, sometimes referred to as histaminosis,  is an over-accumulation of histamine in the body’s organs. Histamine intolerance is often referred to informally as an allergy, but due to a metabolic imbalance, this intolerance is technically caused by the progressive accumulation of extracellular histamine.

Around 1 percent of the world population is intolerant to histamine; of those, 80 percent are middle-aged.

Histamine is an organic nitrogenous substance involved in local immune responses, it controls as a neurotransmitter the physiological activity of the gut, and various functions in different organs such as the brain, the spinal cord, and the uterus. Histamine is also involved in the inflammatory response and, as a mediator of itching, it plays a central role.

Symptoms of Histamine intolerance

Histamine intolerance may look like any seasonal allergies-you can experience hives, itchy or irritated skin, red eyes, facial swelling, nasal congestion, headaches, or asthma attacks if you consume histamine-rich food or beverages. Other signs, including a decrease in blood pressure, heart palpitations, and anxiety or panic attacks, could appear and could be sometimes more severe.

Gastrointestinal problems are also particularly common: recent research surveyed about 60 patients on the subject and confirmed that the most common and extreme symptom was bloating, accompanied by diarrhea, abdominal pain, and constipation.

Such symptoms are believed to be common amongst all patients.  The reason is that histamine receptors are present all over the body, . Campbell adds that, since the symptoms are quite unpredictable, patients are usually sent to multiple consultants.

Histamine intolerance is generally related to other diseases such as allergy or food intolerance, mastocytosis (a rare disorder in which mastic cells accumulate in the skin or organs), psychosomatic diseases (physical manifestations of stress and anxiety), anorexia nervosa, or adverse drug reactions because of this bounce-around, research from Comenius University in Bratislava says.

Probiotics for Histamine intolerance

Over 100 trillion bacteria housed in our organism are actually participating in every single metabolic process in some way, spanning from immune health to everyday mood and energy.

When trying to understand the importance of gut bacteria in some illnesses, disorders like histamine intolerance are no exception.

Bacteria are actively involved both in histamine synthesis and degradation.

Some types of bacteria inside the gut will turn an amino acid called histidine into histamine when we eat foods containing this semi-essential amino acid. This conversion raises the levels of internal histamine-even though the food itself is not considered rich in histamine.

There may be an accumulation of extra histamine in the certain patient’s body experiencing histamine intolerance; and an imbalance of the gut bacteria may be the cause of a persistent rise in internal histamine levels.

Many people immediately turn to probiotics for histamine intolerance in an attempt to rebuild and restore gut bacterial equilibrium. Numerous studies have shown that probiotics can boost colonies of gut bacteria and improve overall health. So, this is a perfect solution in general.

Probiotics for histamine intolerance (Some Strains to Look For)

  • Bifidobacterium infantis
  • Lactobacillus gasseri
  • Bifidobacterium breve
  • Bifidobacterium bifidum
  • Lactobacillus salivarius
  • Lactobacillus rhamnosus (especially GG)
  • Bifidobacterium longum
  • Bifidobacterium lactis

References

Schink, M., Konturek, P.C., Tietz, E., Dieterich, W., Pinzer, T.C., Wirtz, S., Neurath, M.F. and Zopf, Y., 2018. Microbial patterns in patients with histamine intolerance. J Physiol Pharmacol69(4), pp.579-593.

Pelto, L., Isolauri, E., Lilius, E.M., Nuutila, J. and Salminen, S., 1998. Probiotic bacteria down-regulate the milk-induced inflammatory response in milk-hypersensitive subjects but have an immunostimulatory effect in healthy subjects. Clinical and experimental allergy: journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology28(12), pp.1474-1479.

Tee, A., Gut Health and Histamine Intolerance.




Hydroxychloroquine: Mechanism of Action

Introduction

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), is an aminoquinoline used for the prevention and treatment of uncomplicated malaria (caused by P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale, or P. vivax) in areas where malaria is vulnerable to chloroquine. Other applications may include the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and porphyria cutanea tarda. It is taken by mouth. HCQ is being investigated for the prevention and diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) High-quality epidemiological care (Stein, et al., 2000).

The FDA approval for emergency use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19 treatment was revoked on 15 June 2020 (FDA.gov, 2020).

Hydroxychloroquine obtained approval from the FDA on 18 April 1955 (FDA.gov, 1955).

A recent research recorded a COVID-19.10 fatality in the hydroxychloroquine treated population (Chary, et al., 2020).

Figure 1. Structure of HCQ
Figure 1. Structure of HCQ

Pharmacodynamics

Hydroxychloroquine affects both lysosomes function and plasmodia in humans. Changing the pH of the lysosomes decreases the low-affinity self-antigen presentation in autoimmune diseases and interferes with plasmodia’s ability to proteolyze hemoglobin for its energy needs. Hydroxychloroquine has a long duration of action, as for some indications it might be taken weekly. Hydroxychloroquine can lead to serious hypoglycemia and thus it is recommended that diabetic patients control their blood glucose levels. Hydroxychloroquine in areas where chloroquine resistance has been identified, is not effective against malaria (Wolpin, et al., 2014).

Pharmacokinetics

Absorption

Hydroxychloroquine is bioavailable in 67-74 percent. Bioavailability of the enantiomers R and S did not vary significantly. Following an oral dose of 200 mg, hydroxychloroquine reached a Cmax of 129.6ng / mL with a blood Tmax of 3.26h and a plasma Tmax of 50.3ng / mL with a plasma Tmax of 3.74h. Following intravenous doses of 155 mg and 310 mg, blood Cmax ranged from 1161-2436ng / mL with an average of 1918ng / mL.

Volume of distribution

55,22 L (blood) and 44,257 L (plasma)

Protein binding

In general, hydroxychloroquine is protein-bound in plasma by 50 percent. The hydroxychloroquine S enantiomer is 64 percent plasma bound protein. It is bound to serum albumin by 50 percent and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein by 29 percent. The R enantiomer is plasma-bound protein by 37 percent. It is linked to serum albumin by 29 percent and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein by 41 percent.

Metabolism

Hydroxychloroquine is N-dealkylated by CYP3A4 to the active metabolite called desethylhydroxychloroquine and to the inactive metabolites desethylchloroquine and bidesethylchloroquine. The main metabolite is desethylhydroxychloroquine.

Figure 2. HCQ metabolites. Source (drugbank.ca)
Figure 2. HCQ metabolites. Source (drugbank.ca)

Route of elimination

40-50 percent of hydroxychloroquine is excreted by the kidney, while only 16-21 percent of the dose is excreted in the urine as an unchanged drug. 5 percent of the dose is sloughed off in the skin and 24-25 percent is eliminated in the feces.

Half-life

Oral hydroxychloroquine has a half-life of 3-4 hours of absorption. A 200 mg oral hydroxychloroquine dose has a half-life of 22.4 days in blood, and 123.5 days in the plasma. A 155 mg dose intravenous (iv) has a half-life of 40 days.

Clearance

96mL/min

Mechanism of Action

The precise mechanism of action of HCQ is unknown. Hydroxychloroquine has been shown to accumulate in malaria parasite lysosomes, elevating the pH of the vacuole. This behavior interferes with the ability of the parasite to proteolyze hemoglobin, preventing its normal growth and replication. Hydroxychloroquine may also interfere with the action of parasitic heme polymerase, causing the toxic substance beta-hematin to accumulate.

Hydroxychloroquine concentration in human organelles often raises their pH, which inhibits the processing of antigens, prevents dimerization of the alpha and beta chains of the major histocompatibility complex ( MHC) class II, inhibits the cell’s antigen presentation and decreases the inflammatory response. High pH in the vesicles may alter the recycling of MHC complexes to present only the high-affinity complexes on the surface of the cells. Self-peptides bind to low-affinity MHC complexes and therefore are less likely to be exposed to autoimmune T cells. Hydroxychloroquine also lowers cytokine releases, such as interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor, probably by Toll-like receptor inhibition.

The elevated pH in endosomes prohibits the use of virus particles (such as SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2) for fusion and cell entry.

Hydroxychloroquine also blocks the terminal glycosylation of ACE2, the receptor that targets SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 for cell entry. ACE2 which is not in the glycosylated state may interact less efficiently with the spike protein SARS-CoV-2, further inhibiting viral entry.

References

Chary, M. et al., 2020. COVID-19: Therapeutics and Their Toxicities. J Med Toxicol.

FDA.gov, 1955. Drugs@FDA: FDA-Approved Drugs. [Online]
Available at: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm?event=reportsSearch.process&rptName=1&reportSelectMonth=4&reportSelectYear=1955&nav
[Accessed 2020].

FDA.gov, 2020. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: Daily Roundup June 15, 2020. [Online]
Available at: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-daily-roundup-june-15-2020
[Accessed 2020].

Stein, M., Bell, M. J. & Ang, L.-C., 2000. Hydroxychloroquine neuromyotoxicity. The Journal of rheumatology, 27(12), p. 2927.

Wolpin, B. M. et al., 2014. Phase II and pharmacodynamic study of autophagy inhibition using hydroxychloroquine in patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.. The oncologist, 19(6), p. 637.