28-05-2025
Inside the Arms Race to Create a Better Lactose Intolerance Pill
When Derrick Barreiro dines out, he has to make a quick cost-benefit analysis. Vegan dishes are a safe bet, but sometimes Mr. Barreiro, who is lactose intolerant, takes the risk and eats something that contains milk or cheese. In those cases, he opens his wallet, rips open a packet of Lactaid tablets and pops them into his mouth.
'People know I leave a trail of Lactaid wrappers wherever I go,' said Mr. Barreiro, a creative director in Brooklyn. 'They're like my bread crumbs.'
Even so, the supplements don't always work. 'It can still be a gamble even if I take a few before eating.'
Mr. Barreiro is exactly the type of person being targeted by a new class of supplements containing lactase — the enzyme that helps the body digest lactose, a sugar in dairy products — each promising higher efficacy, more convenient packaging, healthier ingredients or some combination of the three.
In 2023, Khai Pham left his job at an orthodontics start-up to create Milky, a supplement that contains about 20 percent more lactase than a Lactaid Fast Act tablet but is half as thick and can easily fit into a wallet.
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