Hoodia Patents

When you buy hoodia gordonii, you should make sure the product has a CITES certificate and alkemists lab test results. Besides these important legal and scientific criteria, there is also a patent on the active ingredient in hoodia gordonii, a rare and succulent plant from South Africa.

Patent on B57 in Hoodia Gordonii

The South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) isolated the active ingredient in hoodia gordonii in 1977, which later became formally known as molecule P57. By 1996, CSIR got a patent on this active ingredient in hoodia gordonii and granted a license to the UK pharmaceutical company Phytopharm. Pfizer was collaborating with Phytopharm to attempt to synthesize the active ingredient in hoodia but was unsuccessful in its attempts and pulled out of the deal in 2002 by releasing their rights. Also in 2002, the CSIR signed an agreement with the San Council to pay royalties because this valuable natural resource was actually discovered by these Bushmen of South Africa. The chair of the San Council, Petrus Vaalbooi, described the three years of negotiations as tough and the agreement was finally announced at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Roger Chennells was the lawyer in South Africa who represented the San and referred to stealing traditional knowledge without compensation as "bio-piracy".

Phytopharm and P57

Phytopharm focuses on plant extracts as functional foods and conducted clinical trials while starting plantations to grow sustainable amounts of hoodia gordonii, realizing the rare plant would risk endangerment.

However, by 2003 everything was out of control as illegitimate hoodia companies continually popped up to disappoint consumers. Dr. Richard Dixey, head of Phytopharm, stated, "If you take this compound every day, your wish to eat goes down. And we've seen that very, very dramatically." With regard to the hoodia patent, Dixey indicates no one else can use it for weight loss, saying, "As a weight-management product without infringing the patent..."

Unilever and Phytopharm

Unilever is now the marketing partner with Phytopharm and they insist that the patent benefits go the San people and are asserting their ownership rights as companies. In 2008, a the companies will introduce many new, naturally-based and patented hoodia products for appetite suppression and effective weight loss.

Buying the real hoodia gordonii is serious business so you can achieve your fitness goals without wasting your hard-earned money. Purchasing real hoodia with a CITES certificate, patent and lab results ensures you are getting the real product from South Africa in its natural form.

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