PdPipeline database: Cogane

Pd is still pre-clinical.


From : The Independent
Phytopharm chief quits business for Buddhism
By Karen Attwood

Published: 10 January 2007



Phytopharm, famed for developing an appetite suppressant from a cactus eaten by Kalahari bushmen, is undergoing a change of management after its high-profile co-founder and chief executive stepped down.
Richard Dixey said he felt he had an obligation to move on after 14 years at the helm of the pharmaceutical company that specialises in products generated from medicinal plant extracts. He is succeeded by Daryl Rees, who has been chief operating officer at Phytopharm for six years.
Dr Dixey, 54, said he was leaving "to spend more time being a Buddhist rather than a businessman".
"I care passionately about this company but it is not my company and it is time for a new management team to take it forward," he said.
Dr Dixey, who will retain his 17 per cent stake in the business, said he plans to travel to India, Burma, Sri Lanka and Thailand with his wife and two young children.
The Cambridge-based company also announced yesterday that Piers Morgan, a founding director of the Life Sciences M&A team at Ernst & Young, is joining the company as chief financial officer.
The new team will continue to focus on the company's key product - an appetite suppressant it is developing from the Hoodia gordonii plant, which has been used by generations of tribesmen of the Kalahari in southern African to stem hunger pangs on long hunts.
Phytopharm is collaborating with the food giant Unilever on a £21m research and development programme to bring the product to market.
Unilever hopes to use the plant's active ingredient in weight-loss products. Its SlimFast brand has been hit in recent years by the growth of the Atkins diet and a host of other fad diets endorsed by celebrities.
Phytopharm's other key products in the pipeline are Cogane, a drug in phase-two trials to treat Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, (note phase II is for Alzheimer's. PD is still pre-clinical (LH) )and Myogane, a motor neurone disease treatment in phase-one trials.
The company's only products on the market are for dogs: Phytopica treats skin disorders while Zanthofen is for joint problems.
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2140314.ece
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UK biotech in Parkinson's drugs talks
From: The Business (London)
25th April 2007.
PHYTOPHARM, the British biotech company, is in talks with some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies over its treatment for Parkinson’s disease, one of the fastest growing drugs markets.
US giant Eli Lilly, which recently had a Parkinson’s product withdrawn over safety fears, and fellow Americans Wyeth and Pfizer, the world’s biggest pharma company, are understood to be in discussions with the London-listed group. Negotiations are still at an early stage, though Phytopharm expects to clinch a deal by the end of this year.
Daryl Rees, chief executive, declined to confirm who Phytopharm was in talks with. But he conceded that the treatment, Cogane, had already received considerable interest. The drug has performed well in early clinical trials, but Phytopharm needs further funding to take it to Phase III trials, which is why it is seeking the licensing deal. Should the final tests be successful, Cogane should come to market by 2011 or 2012, and analysts believe it could eventually rake in sales of could reach sales of $1bn (£500m, E736m).
The worldwide market for Parkinson’s is currently worth around $3bn, but as the population continues to age that is set to soar. There is currently no cure for the debilitating disease, which causes dementia, tremors, stiff limbs, slowness of movement, and impaired balance and co-ordination in sufferers.
Several other Parkinson’s drugs are being developed, including a stem-cell based treatment from fellow UK biotech ReNeuron, but none are as advanced as Cogane, which is derived from a Chinese plant.
Phytopharm has a track record in securing licensing deals, a rare feat in the biotech sector. Other agreements include a tie-up with Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, to develop an anti-obesity treatment, and with Germany’s Schering-Plough, for an animal skincare product.
http://info.thebusiness.co.uk/article.php?jchk=1&nolog=1&p_id=1049&c_id=839&sc_i d=223&jlnk=csl0470