Ixico Regulatory News (IXI)

26 Jun 2007 07:02

Phytopharm PLC26 June 2007 Company Contact: U.K. Investor Relations Contact:Phytopharm plc FDDr Daryl Rees CEO David YatesMr Piers Morgan CFO Ben Atwell+44 1480 437 697 +44 207 831 3113www.phytopharm.com Collaboration and Licence Agreement with The Beijing Institute for novel memoryand concentration product GODMANCHESTER, Cambridgeshire, U.K. (26 June 2007) - Phytopharm plc (LSE: PYM)("Phytopharm" or the "Company") announces today a Collaboration and LicenceAgreement with The Beijing Institute, Academy of Military Medical Sciences ("TheBeijing Institute") for the development of novel functional foods andpharmaceuticals, including a product for memory and concentration. Under the terms of the Collaboration and Licence Agreement, Phytopharm and TheBeijing Institute will collaborate to progress The Beijing Institute's leadproduct for memory and concentration selected from its library of patentedcompounds derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Collaboration andLicence Agreement also extends to certain other patented compounds that may haveutility in other disease areas including vascular disorders and stroke.Phytopharm has been granted an exclusive licence from The Beijing Institute todevelop and commercialize these products globally in return for royalty andmilestone payments to The Beijing Institute upon the achievement of certainpre-defined goals. Financial terms of the agreement are not disclosed. Traditional Chinese Medicines have been used for thousands of years and overthat time a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the medicinal use of plants hasbuilt up. The Beijing Institute scientists have extensive knowledge ofTraditional Chinese Medicines and their research over the last 10 years has ledto the identification of a lead product that has the potential to improve memoryand concentration. Phytopharm will develop this lead product through furtherpre-clinical testing and progress into clinical trials. Commenting on today's announcement, Dr Xiaoming Yang, Head of The BeijingInstitute, said: "We are delighted to be working with Phytopharm and proud thatThe Beijing Institute's extensive expertise and experience in TraditionalChinese Medicine has been recognized by Phytopharm and we look forward to a longand fruitful collaboration." Commenting on today's announcement, Dr Daryl Rees, Chief Executive Officer ofPhytopharm, said: "We are excited about the Collaboration and Licence Agreementwith The Beijing Institute as it fulfils one of our strategic objectives ofexpanding our product portfolio with a novel functional food candidate formemory and concentration, an area in which we have established expertise. TheBeijing Institute's scientists bring significant knowledge on TraditionalChinese Medicine and we look forward to working with them to advance the leadproduct through clinical development." -Ends- Notes to Editors Phytopharm plc Phytopharm is a pharmaceutical development and functional food company whoseproduct leads are generated from medicinal plants. The Company's strategy is todevelop these products through 'proof of principle' clinical testing, and thensecure partners for late stage development, sales and marketing. Laboratory,manufacturing and clinical work is outsourced to selected specialists, operatingunder expert in-house management. This operational structure allows access tothe best external research facilities whilst maintaining low fixed overheads anda lower development cost structure. Beijing Institute The Beijing Institute (Institute of Radiation Medicine, the Academy of MilitaryMedical Sciences, Beijing) has over the past 50 years developed its researchstrengths from radiobiology into a wide range of scientific fields, includingbiotechnology, biochemistry, molecular biology, pharmaceutical chemistry,pharmacology, toxicology, experimental pathology, experimental haematology,genomics and proteomics. These groups were set up to provide the qualitycontrol for Traditional Chinese Medicine products and the identification anddevelopment of extracted active compounds. The Institutes considerableexpertise and experience in the extraction of active compounds from TraditionalChinese Medicine has resulted in several pharmaceutical products beingsuccessfully developed for the Chinese market. Functional Foods Functional foods are foodstuffs that provide health or physiological benefitsabove their nutritional value and have a health claim on the packaging.Currently gut and heart health products dominate with new interest in areas ofweight control, memory and concentration, immune system function and skinhealth. The global value of functional foods is estimated to be up to $65bn.The growth potential is predicted to be 50% from 2005-2010 with an acceleratingtrend for new products. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange