Dieta Hoodia

San to benefit when fat-busting cactus cafes take off

October 16, 2005

London - Hoodia cafes serving slices of the wonder cactus in salads could soon be dotting London's pavements.

For centuries, the San have used hoodia gordonii, a succulent plant indigenous to South Africa, as an appetite suppressant and stimulant.

In June 1997, drug company Phytopharm licensed the active ingredient, P57, from the CSIR in Pretoria, and recently installed another botanical supplies unit in South Africa to increase its P57 manufacturing.

The CSIR, which was responsible for isolating P57 in the course of unrelated research, took the unprecedented step of including the San in the agreement brokered with Phytopharm.

This was largely in recognition of the San's intellectual property rights regarding the cactus, whose appetite-suppressing qualities have enabled them to stave off hunger during long trips in the Kalahari.

In 2003, the San Council and the CSIR signed a benefit-sharing agreement in terms of which the San would receive 8 percent of all milestone payments from Phytopharm and 8 percent of global sales thereafter once the drug was marketed.

The CSIR also agreed to make study bursaries and scholarships available to the San community and promised to collaborate with them in future bioprospecting.

According to Roger Chennels, the lawyer who negotiated the deal on behalf of the San, it would provide the income and security that had been absent in their recent history.

In a BBC interview, Chennels said: "The San will finally throw off thousands of years of oppression, poverty, social isolation and discrimination. We will create trust funds with their hoodia royalties and the [San] children will join South Africa's middle classes in our lifetime.

"I envisage hoodia cafes in London and New York. Salads will be served and the hoodia cut like cucumber on to the salad."

In August 1998, an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement was signed with Pfizer for the development and global commercialisation of P57 as an oral prescription drug to treat obesity.

Last year, Phytopharm signed a £21 million (R243 million) deal with Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever for the exclusive right to produce Slimfast products from the compound.

The agreement also includes substantial royalty payments to Phytopharm once the product is on the shelves. Phytopharm's stock jumped 10.7 percent earlier this month on the news, with analysts saying that sales of £309 million a year were possible.

Successful completion of the proof-of-principle clinical study for P57 was announced in December 2001. This study used raw materials manufactured in the existing South African unit. The new facility will expand the capacity for processing raw materials by 300 percent and a plan to process substantial quantities of plant material is now under way.

Phytopharm's chief executive, Richard Dixey, said: "Phytopharm continues to make strong progress in the development of P57, as well as other products that we hope to develop in our long-term collaboration with the CSIR."

The US market for treating obesity is estimated at being worth in excess of $3 billion (R20 billion). - Independent Foreign Service.

Source: BusinessReport

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Buy Aloe Products in Spain, Italy and Portugal at
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