[paula_w]

Star puts $1m into UK drug research



Matthew Goodman


PHYTOPHARM, the quoted Cambridgeshire drug developer that makes products from medicinal plants, is to receive a $1.2m (£613,000) grant from the Michael J Fox Foundation to help to fund its research into treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

It will get money over two years to fund preclinical trials of Cogane, a treatment that helps to stimulate production in the brain of the protein GDNF, which is known to ease symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Injecting GDNF into the part of the brain involved can be effective but is exceptionally risky. GDNF cannot be taken orally.

Cogane is being developed to bypass these hurdles and this funding will be used to research the most effective dosing of the drug.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle3215563.ece

paula

[lou_lou]

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From The TimesJune 23, 2005

Activists force review by Phytopharm broker

By Richard Irving
CANACCORD CAPITAL is reviewing its role as a broker to Phytopharm, one of Britain’s best known biotech companies, after animal rights extremists targeted one of the stockbroker’s top directors.

The City firm last night confirmed reports on an Animal Liberation Front (ALF) website claiming that an incendiary device had been left under the car of one its senior managers.

A spokesman for Canaccord told The Times last night that he would be in a position to clarify the company’s relationship with Phytopharm after 7am today.

The ALF website, which is understood to be supported by the Stop Huntingdon Against Cruelty organisation (Shac), said that it had targeted the Canaccord director because of links between his company’s client, Phytopharm, and Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS).

“Canaccord are HLS customer Phytopharm’s biggest shareholders and have raised £10 million for them. Bad mistake. If you support or raise funds for any company associated with HLS, we will track you down, come for you and destroy your property by fire,” the website said.

A spokesman for Canaccord confirmed last night that a company director’s car had been firebombed on May 26. The spokesman also confirmed that the company’s Upper Brook Street offices had been targeted by Shac demonstrators several times late last month.

The website goes on to threaten the drug company, which specialises in developing new medicines from plants. “Phytopharm, get out of HLS or see your share price crash and your supporters’ property go up in flames,” it says.

However, it was not clear last night what links the company has with HLS. Phytopharm was developing a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, based on a Chinese herbal medicine, alongside Yamanouchi Pharmaceuticals, a Japanese drug developer which is believed to have links with HLS. However, Yamanouchi terminated the partnership with Phytopharm in February.

New laws to prevent extremists from causing economic damage to companies connected with animal research come into effect on July 1 under the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act.

Aisling Burnand, chief executive of the Bio Industry Association, which spearheaded the effort to lobby the Government for new laws restricting animal extremists, said: “This was clearly not a peaceful protest. The new laws will afford greater protection to companies such as Canaccord. We need to ensure that the police have sufficient resources.”




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[lou_lou]

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d.php?p=109225

with Cogane showed it to be neuroprotective against betya-amyloid and glutamate damage which contributes to Alzheimer's disease.

Cogane works by restoring levels of proteins that are altered in the ageing brain, returning them to levels observed in the young and could even help neural connections in the brain to grow back.

In pre-clinical trials, the drug reversed the decrease of neuronal growth factors as well as reversing neuronal degeneration shown in the ageing brain. If replicated in sufferers, these results could prove a massive breakthrough in treating Alzheimer's.

Cogane is one of Phytopharm's synthetic pharmaceutical molecules, but the company is best known for its products based on plant research.

Its most well-known drug in development is an obesity treatment based on Hoodiagordonii, a rare cactus native to the Kalahari Desert.

Unilever, the global foods giant, has bought exclusive worldwide rights to an appetite-suppressing compound extracted from the Hoodia gordonii plant, which has been developed by Phytopharm.

Unilever says the first new hoodia products are expected to reach the market in the next three years and may be marketed under the SlimFast brand or incorporated in other Unilever brands.

Phytopharm will receive initial payments of around 6.5 million from Unilever, out of a potential total of 21 million as well as royalties once the products go on sale.


http://www.pharmafocus.com/cda/focus...441164,00.html

[reverett123]

OK, I agree that decency dictates certain rules for anyone who claims to be civilized.

And I would agree that we, as superior beings, should respect the lab rat even while he slaughters the pups from a competitor's litter.

And I will assume that the brave fellow who put the incendiary is not hypocritical enough to use any animal derived products.

But do these nutcases not realize that babies and animals as well are being slaughtered every day in dozens of wars created and fed by real villains?

Seems like the waste of a perfectly good incendiary to me,,,,

[lou_lou]

if we are what we eat -

cant we eat or drink the Hoodiagordonii, a rare cactus native to the Kalahari Desert.

Hoodia is made from the same plant?

[paula_w]

That's what is different about cogane. I met these people at Bio last year - it's taken orally.

paula