About Phytopharm
Phytopharm is a leading company in the development of Botanical pharmaceuticals. Botanicals help to understand how plant medicines can be in used to treat chronic and diseases about which very littlie information is available. When such research shows substantially good results, they form the basis for drug discovery platforms. Such platforms enable the development of new medicines and the isolation of single chemical entities of clinical importance. Phytopharm has got four drug discovery platforms in full development. These come under the categories of obesity and metabolic syndrome, neural and muscular degeneration, inflammation and dermatitis.
As part of the research into the obesity and metabolic syndrome drug discovery platform, Phytopharm procured the patent rights for the active ingredient present in Hoodia Gordonii succulent. This active ingredient is named P57 and it has the ability to suppress appetite. The research and development into Hoodia diet products is carried out by the plant extract division of Phytopharm.
In December 2001, Phytopharm, conducted a double-blind, clinical study on morbidly obese participants. Those participants, who were given Hoodia Gordonii, took an average 1,000 less calories per day than the participants, who were given a placebo. The P57 molecule enabled the group using Hoodia Gordonii to also reduce body fat, in addition to experiencing a loss in appetite. There was no side effects were felt in the study.Â
In December 2004, Phytopharm announced that they had granted an exclusive global license for the Hoodia Gordonii extract to Unilever plc. According to the terms and of the agreement between Phytopharm and Unilever, a five-stage research and development program was conducted by them, on the safety and efficacy in bringing Hoodia Gordonii products into the market.
By April 2006, they had successfully completed the first stage of their Joint Development Agreement and had announced that they were going through the second stage which involved conducting clinical studies.
An important point to note is that only Phytopharm’s patented Hoodia Gordonii product is botanically verified as containing pure Hoodia Gordonii. It has quantified levels of the chemical constituents which cause anti-obesity effects. Only the Hoodia Gordonii products brought out by Phytopharm have had extensive safety studies performed and have clinically proven to reduce calorie intake and body fat. The profits from the sale of these products are shared with CSIR and the San people by Phytopharm.
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