Possible Delay to Hoodia FDA Approval

A partnership that looked to bring the first hoodia gordonii weight loss product to market with FDA approval has folded. Phytopharm of the UK was in agreement with Unilever to release a drink product containing South African hoodia.

Unilever has backed out after investing four years and 20 million Euros into the Hoodia product; apparently not a devastating figure with an annual R&D budget of 45 times that amount. They stated that "Data suggests using the extract would not meet our safety and efficacy standards", but would not give further details.

Analysts suspect Unilever was looking for a drink product to fit into their Slim Fast weight management line, and because testing revealed the hoodia ingredient metabolised too quickly in a liquid product it therefore resulted in Hoodia being redundant for use in Unilever's plan. Phytopharm on the other hand indicated this would now actually free them up to pursue other partners who might pursue different food mediums for Hoodia outside of solely drink products. They also state there is no question about the Hoodia ingredients safety and efficacy.

Phytopharm received a global license in 1997 to market the Kalahari Desert Hoodia Gordonii and when a deal with Pfizer didn't come to fruition they went into an agreement with Unilever in 2004.  It was only this past June a Unilever spokesperson indicated they were still on track to submit a GRAS notification to the FDA in late 2009 for Hoodia. It is unknown whether Phytopharm is still on track to make this submission.

Source: foodanddrinkeurope.com