Phytopharm in talks with food giants over appetite-suppressing cactus snack

Phytopharm, the pharmaceuticals group developing drugs from exotic plants, is in talks with several large food companies over plans to turn its obesity treatment into an appetite-suppressing snack.

The product is based on a rare cactus found in the southern African desert, and Phytopharm has stepped up cultivation in advance of what it hopes will be a breakthrough supply deal. Richard Dixey, the chief executive, said the company was growing hundreds of thousands of the plants and had collected 10 million seeds.

The Kalahari desert cactus, known as a Hoodia, has been used for centuries as an appetite suppressant by the San people in southern Africa.

Phytopharm has been forced to consider other options for the Hoodia after Pfizer, the biggest drug maker in the world, decided earlier this year not to develop it into an anti-obesity pill. That news wiped a third off the company's market value, although Mr Dixey plans to re-license the plant, or a synthetic equivalent, to another drug group.

Analysts hope that a deal to develop the Hoodia into a tasty snack bar or other food, in partnership with one of the world's consumer goods giants, would mean the product is commercialised more quickly than would be possible as a drug.

However, it will put the spotlight firmly on the company's finances when Phytopharm reports full-year figures next month. It has less than two years' cash left, by some estimates, and will need to invest heavily in plant cultivation. Mr Dixey said: "There is a meal replacement market worth $3bn (£1.8bn) a year, but the trouble with many products is that you have one, but then you are hungry two hours later and go and get a Mars bar. We want to find a collaboration because for over-the-counter sale this has to be combined with calories to make sure it is not used by anorexics."