Phytopharm, Pfizer to Jointly Develop Plant-Based Obesity Drug
Bloomberg News
August 24, 1998, 4:31 a.m. ET
Phytopharm, Pfizer to Jointly Develop Plant-Based Obesity Drug
London, Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Phytopharm Plc, a U.K.
biotechnology company, said it signed an agreement with No. 2
U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. to develop a plant-derived obesity
drug to tap the growing market for weight-loss treatments.
Pfizer, the maker of blockbuster impotence drug Viagra,
will pay Phytopharm as much as $39 million to develop P57, an
appetite-suppressant derived from extracts of a South African
plant, Phytopharm said.
Drug companies are trying to bring new products to the
market for obesity treatments. The market is still largely
dominated by older, generic drugs after American Home Products
Corp. and Interneuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. last year withdrew
their treatments for safety reasons.
In the U.S. alone, 97 million adults are considered
overweight, and 38 million are considered obese. Obesity can
contribute to other ailments such as cardiovascular diseases,
and is the second-commonest cause of preventable death in the
U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health.
Phytopharm said Pfizer will pay it $32 million for P57's
worldwide license, part of which will come as milestone payments
linked to the progress of the drug's development. In addition,
the company said Pfizer will inject $7 million in early
development programs for the drug and give Phytopharm an
undisclosed percentage of the revenue from sales of P57.
Little Competition
Treatment of obesity sustained a setback last year when
American Home Products and Interneuron took two popular fat-
fighting drugs off the market after they were linked to heart
valve problems.
BASF AG's Knoll Pharmaceuticals unit is one of the few
companies to have introduced a new anti-obesity drug that is
still on sale. Knoll's Meridia won U.S. Food and Drug
Administration approval last year.
Roche Holding AG recently received preliminary approval
from the FDA for its weight-loss drug Xenical, and said the
agency intends to approve the product once some outstanding
issues including labeling are resolved and after it has seen
further data on the drug's effects. Xenical is already approved
for sale in the European Union.
Phytopharm specializes in making medicines from ancient
herbal remedies, of which the most advanced is a treatment for
eczema, a skin condition.
The company said earlier this year it was working to form
partnership agreements with major drug companies to sell its
products worldwide.
--Marthe Fourcade in the Paris newsroom (331) 5365 5065 with
quote.bloomberg.com
Separately, in Dow Jones news:
Phytopharm Signs Up Pfizer As Marketing Partner
August 24, 1998 4:06 AM
smartmoney.com
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