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 Ł21m 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 (Ł500m, 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

Cogane™ data presented at ‘11th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders’

http://www.phytopharm.co.uk/news/newsreleases/?id=5549

GODMANCHESTER, Cambridgeshire, U.K. (5 June 2007) – Phytopharm plc (LSE: PYM) (”Phytopharm” or the “Company”) announces today pre-clinical data showing that Cogane™ reverses the changes in the area of the brain involved in Parkinson’s disease. This data will be presented by Dr Jonathan Brotchie, an internationally recognised expert on Parkinson’s disease at ‘The 11th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders’ 5 June in Istanbul, Turkey and published in The Movement Disorders Society’s journal*.

Cogane™ reverses the changes in area of the brain involved in Parkinson’s disease by inducing the production of neurotrophic factors. These growth factors promote the growth and connectivity of neurones and reverse the atrophy of this area of the brain. This latest study was partly funded by The Cure Parkinson’s Trust.

Commenting, Tom Isaacs, co-founder of The Cure Parkinson’s Trust said: “Cogane’s ability to induce a person’s own neurotrophic activity offers a very real prospect of a better treatment for Parkinson’s disease. As a patient led organisation, The Cure Parkinson’s Trust is very excited about the potential of this product to completely restore motor function to those with the condition. We are delighted our targeted fund allocation in this area of research has been directly involved in these latest findings.”

Commenting, Dr Daryl Rees, Chief Executive Officer of Phytopharm, said: “There is an urgent need for new therapeutic approaches to Parkinson’s disease. Pre-clinical studies with Cogane™, an orally bioavailable neurotrophic factor inducer, have been highly encouraging in reversing the changes in the area of the brain involved in Parkinson’s disease, providing hope that Cogane™ could restore normal control of movement.”


Notes to Editors

Phytopharm plc
Phytopharm is a pharmaceutical development and functional food company whose product leads are generated from medicinal plants. The Company’s strategy is to develop these products through ‘proof of principle’ clinical testing, and then secure partners for late stage development, sales and marketing. Laboratory, manufacturing and clinical work is outsourced to selected specialists, operating under expert in-house management. This operational structure allows access to the best external research facilities whilst maintaining low fixed overheads and a lower development cost structure.

Cogane™
Cogane™ (PYM50028) is a novel non-peptide, orally bioavailable neurotrophic factor inducer that readily crosses the blood brain barrier. In pre-clinical studies, Cogane™ stimulates the release of neuronal growth factors, increases neurite outgrowth and protects against neuronal degeneration. Importantly, Cogane™ also reverses the decrease of neuronal growth factors and reverses dopaminergic neuronal degeneration observed in vitro. When administered orally to pre-clinical models of Parkinson’s disease, Cogane™ reverses the loss of dopaminergic neurones.

*Movement Disorders (2007) Vol 22 (Suppl 16): page S18, abstract number 58.

For further information about Phytopharm please see our website at www.phytopharm.com

Dr Jonathan Brotchie
Dr Jonathan Brotchie is Senior Scientist at the Toronto Western Hospital, part of the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, Canada. He is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Atuka Ltd., a contract research and consultancy services company for the development of novel therapeutics and diagnostics for Parkinson’s disease. Jonathan is a renowned scientist in the field of Parkinson’s disease and, at UHN runs one of the world’s premier research laboratories for the identification of novel treatments, diagnostics and cures for Parkinson’s and related disorders. In the last decade, he has published many influential scientific papers in the field of Parkinson’s disease and related disorders. His research has been particularly associated with pioneering the concept of non-dopaminergic treatments for Parkinson’s disease.

Jonathan is also Scientific Director of the Cure Parkinson’s Trust, a charity supporting research aimed at delivering better treatments and cures for PD.

The Cure Parkinson’s Trust
The Cure Parkinson’s Trust supported by Movers & Shakers was co-founded by four individuals with Parkinson’s who are determined to do everything in their power to help find a cure for this debilitating neurological disease. They are former Lord Mayor of London, Sir Richard Nichols, David Jones CBE, former chairman of Next Plc, Michael Hughes and Tom Isaacs.

Parkinson’s disease can affect anyone at any time. It does not discriminate by age, sex or nationality. One in every 500 people, contracts Parkinson’s, with one in every 20 of those diagnosed each year being under the age of 40 years. A cure for Parkinson’s disease is within reach.

The Cure Parkinson’s Trust has been funding a variety of research projects globally. For further details see: www.cureparkinsons.org.uk