UK pharmaceutical company strike deal with Unilever on weight-loss product
December 15, 2004
London - A small British pharmaceutical company said on Wednesday it had given the Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever exclusive rights to market a novel weight-loss product based on a South African cactus.
The plant-based company Phytopharm saw its shares close up 10.7 percent at 239 pence, after announcing its £21-million deal with the food giant.
The anti-obesity food supplement, known as P57, is an extract of a South African succulent called hoodia, found in the Kalahari desert.
The compound, which tricks the brain into thinking a person is full, was licensed by Phytopharm in 1997 from the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
Phytopharm has been in negotiations over P57 with a number of companies since the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer pulled out of a deal last year.
"Unilever was our partner of choice... We are delighted to enter into this agreement with the global leader in weight management products", Phytopharm chief executive Richard Dixey said.
Dixey said the deal with Unilever meant the consumer product company would use its financial and legal weight to start prosecuting companies profiting from alleged hoodia products.
In an attempt to attract the growing anti-obesity market, several companies claim their products contain extracts of the rare plant.
"It is mainly fraud... but there are occasional companies that have 'hoodia containing' products and we are obviously going to start moving against them," Dixey said.
"A very important element of this deal is to have the right partner who will help us enforce the patent," he added. - AFP
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