Entrepreneur behind Nicorette and Listermint on why he moved to Jersey...

Tuesday 10 May 2016

There is something in the waters around Jersey as a leading entrepreneur has landed on the island, ready to sort out our stomachs.

Graham Waters is the 57-year-old business brain behind such High Street successes as Nicorette, Benylin and Listermint.

Mr Waters has now launched his Church Street-based company Clasado BioSciences with the aim of getting our guts back in good working order.

The company’s Chief Executive is at the forefront of the latest ‘prebiotic’ technology, which sells a range of products designed to improve the health of the gut.

“You have something in the abdomen called the colon, otherwise known as the gut,” said Mr Waters, who brought the company to Jersey three years ago. “It weighs about 2kg and contains approximately one trillion bacteria. There are beneficial bacteria and harmful bacteria and it is important to keep the balance because the gut is responsible for around 70 per cent of your immune system.

“The best known technology is probiotics, which is essentially putting live bugs into your system. Probiotics are fuel and food for the good bacteria that you already have.”

His company Clasado BioSciences use these probiotics, first developed in 1994 at Reading University. The result is Bimuno, which Waters says works within seven days and has been an instant success.

“We have a significant amount of testimonials from people who simply say ‘this has changed my life.’ We have conducted trials which show that we can reduce general gut discomfort as well as tackling diarrhoea, improving constipation and abdominal pain,” said Hertfordshire-born Waters. 

“Within teenagers, Bimuno can reduce the levels of stress and anxiety and we are currently doing further work in adults, exploring if Bimuno can reduce the risk of dementia. Brain health is probably the largest expenditure on the global health budget today. It is all about happy gut, happy brain.” 

Clasado BioSciences currently employ eight people in Jersey but the company’s business management is based here and Waters is convinced the employee count will only increase.

He said: “Jersey’s tax neutrality makes it a good place to do business. When we first came to Jersey we were really impressed by the people’s openness and welcoming nature. I’m an avid promoter of Jersey as a place to do business.

“We have a clinical study about to start at the hospital: a very interesting piece of work on healthy ageing. As one gets older the body’s beneficial bacteria naturally decline at the expense of harmful bacteria. That’s why it takes longer to recover when you’re 50 than when you were 24. We can reverse the ageing process of the gut and if you have a healthy colon, you have a healthy immune system.”