If you're a health care professional struggling to manage the challenge of patient nutrition, Nestlé just announced some really sweet news relevant to you.

Nestlé Health Science is going to create a $70 million Nestlé Product Technology Center (NPTC) at the New Jersey Center of Excellence in Bridgewater, N.J., dedicated to developing innovative nutritional solutions.

“This investment reflects our commitment to leading the development of innovative nutritional therapies that change the course of health for people and patients in the U.S. and globally," Nestlé Health Science CEO Greg Behar said in a statement. "The new facility will house the latest technologies and people in the field, uniting our R&D and business teams in a region with strong life-science activity; it will enhance and accelerate the quality and speed to market of Nestlé Health Science’s innovations that improve nutritional status and health outcomes."

Nestlé Health Science, established four years ago, focuses on the role of nutrition in health care, so vital in many diseases and health challenges.

“The field of nutritional therapy is vibrant with scientific and clinical advances, and this new facility will be dedicated to Nestlé Health Science’s quest to advance the therapeutic role of nutrition," said Stefan Catsicas, Nestlé Chief Technology Officer, Head of Innovation, Technology & Research and Development.

The NPTC in Bridgewater will focus on applied research and innovative product development, sensory perception, engineering, and provide technological know-how in packaging, according to the company.

"We are pioneering the development of a new industry founded upon science-based personalized nutritional solutions," advised Luis Cantarell, CEO of Nestlé Health Science. "Our focus is upon addressing nutritional needs of patients with not only acute medical conditions, but also increasingly prevalent chronic diseases."

The new center is scheduled to open in 2016 and will build up its Northeast facilities.

The impact on local health care business was stressed by New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. “In the industry that Nestlé is in, it’s a door opener, quite frankly,” the state’s top official for economic development told NJ BIZ about the new 180,000-square-foot headquarters and research and development facility in Bridgewater.

“[The Nestlé facility] is really going to make it an area for innovation,” she said. “It’s a great New Jersey story and it shows that we are able to reinvent ourselves in a space that was huge, and now we’ve been able to develop it in a way — working together with [owners Advance Realty and CrossHarbor Capital Partners] — to make it a destination for life sciences.”

Nestlé Health Sciences has been in the news recently with a number of other deals. In September it entered into a deal for exclusive rights to Lipid Therapeutics' LT-02 compound (phosphatidylcholine), a novel barrier function therapy for patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis (UC), worldwide excluding Europe and Australia.

In addition, The Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences SA signed a research collaboration agreement in September with AC Immune SA to develop a sensitive, minimally invasive Tau diagnostic assay for early Alzheimer's disease using Nestlé's proprietary multiplexed ultrasensitive antibody technology platform.