Herring roe treating psoriasis could create a new industry

Herring roe treating psoriasis could create a new industry

Over 100.000 Norwegians are affected by psoriasis could get their everyday life improved significantly. The help comes from the sea and could create a new billion-dollar industry.

Herring full of roe is on its way to the west coast of Norway to spawn. The local company, Arctic Nutrition, wants to exploit this. The goal is for the herring roe to help people suffering from psoriasis globally, and simultaneously build a billion-dollar industry.

– a fish egg is a cell. Therefore there is a lot of membrane fats that will help to renew cells, explains founder Hogne Hallaråker.

Positively surprised
Bjørn Ivar Heggelund was one of the 60 patients participating in the Norwegian study started in Bergen in 2017. His psoriasis is now a lot better.

– I did not feel anything in the beginning, but after a while, it was like flipping a switch, he says.

It was Head of Dermatology, Kåre Steinar Tveit at the Haukeland University Hospital, who has been responsible for conducting the study. He was very skeptical at first but was positively surprised.

RESEARCH: In the microscope Per Christian Sæbø is studying the roe that he hopes will be an approved pharmaceutical all over the world.

– What surprises me, is that the patients themselves experienced that the medicine had a good effect. It is not just our doctors that can measure disease activity. It also surprised me that it works so well on so many people. So we’ll see if the effect will last. It will be exciting to follow this group moving forward, says Tveit.

European study
The Norwegian study is considered too small to qualify as a drug. The herring roe extract is only available as a food supplement. Therefore, the company is now initiating a larger European study with 400-500 patients.

The goal is that the herring roe extract will be approved as a drug to treat psoriasis globally in a few years. The company, Arctic Nutrition, is now a member of the Norwegian Association for Pharmaceuticals.

News article from NRK published 25.02.19