Drug company behind possible obesity cure
The British drug company which hopes to use an African cactus to cure obesity releases its interim results on Monday.
Cambridge-based Phytopharm investigates and develops medicines derived from plants.
This month the company revealed that it was carrying out tests on the Hoodia plant, which is believed to act as an appetite suppressant.
The plant was once munched by Kung tribesmen in South Africa to stave off hunger. Phytopharm will carry out tests to see if the plant can help obesity sufferers next month.
In January Phytopharm's shares suffered when a cream it had formulated to stop baldness performed badly in trials. Only 29% of users grew more hair.
However, the company revealed very encouraging results from tests on a treatment for dog eczema.
Its plant-based drug, dubbed P7, was credited with easing the suffering of 38% of dogs involved in tests carried out by the University of Minnesota . Observers scrutinised changes in the dogs' skin colour and counted how many times they scratched themselves.
This summer Phytopharm is to trial a new drug for Alzheimer's Disease after earlier trials yielded encouraging results.
