Medical nutrition company Nualtra has secured a €300,000 investment from Enterprise Ireland to help it move its manufacturing base to Ireland.

Launched in late 2012 by dietician Paul Gough, the company makes oral nutritional supplements for treating disease-related malnutrition.

Mr Gough said he approached the leading Irish dairy and ingredients companies when he was setting up the business but none was able to manufacture the products.

The milkshake and dessert-style supplements need a specific aseptic machine to manage the high protein levels and must be packed at a certain temperature so that they have a one-year shelf life.

At present, the Nualtra range is being manufactured in France but Mr Gough said the funds would help the companyto move production to an Irish site.

The company has agreed an R&D proposal with Teagasc to investigate how the products could be manufactured here.

High-net-worth jobs
"Hopefully, stage two of the Enterprise Ireland funding will be the setting up of the manufacturing facility," Mr Gough said. "Basically we want to have all the R&D in Ireland, the high- net-worth jobs and, if we can get the manufacturing here, it's an added bonus."

Nualtra has market share of between 10 to 17 per cent in the State's €14 million market and was recently approved by the NHS for prescribing in the UK, where the market is valued at £120 million. Investors in Nualtra include Mr Gough's father-in law Sean Corkery, who is chief executive of SiteServ, and Leslie Buckley, Independent News & Media chairman.

A spokeswoman for Enterprise Ireland said significant market opportunity existed in the area of medical nutrition and functional foods “and Ireland is well placed to benefit from new product development”.