The agreement sees the formulation pass from InterMed to Cognis, which will now commission clinical trials based on IMD’s extraction – believed to be based on the herb schizandra or Chinese mock-braberry.
These would add to the in vivo obesity trials already conducted by IMD.
Mode of action
A Cognis spokesperson told NutraIngredients.com the new ingredient would embellish its weight loss offerings as it would have a different “mode of action”. But she would not reveal what this was.
A 2-3 year development phase was expected before the ingredient would see the commercial light-of-day, both companies said.
Under the licensing agreement, IMD receives a one-off payment with royalties to follow when products reach market.
Pleasing milestone
IMD chief executive officer, Dr Thomas Henkel, said it was a pleasing milestone for a company that broke away from BayerHealthcare in 2006, taking with it a database of plant-based compounds that numbers close to 20,000.
“This arrangement is proof our database is capable of generating value for all companies involved,” Henkel told NutraIngredients.com, adding the up-front payment was significant and would allow IMD to advance other projects.
“This agreement increases the value of our company,” he said. “Cognis has many ideas about how they are going to further research the ingredient and bring it to market and we are excited by that.”
Losing control
Henkel was unconcerned about “losing control” of the ingredient as it was now passing into Cognis’ areas of expertise in clinical research, formulation, marketing and distribution.
“We don’t feel like we need to control the whole process – this is not part of our business plan,” he said. “We are a leads generating company and that stems from our ability to highlight the ways in which pharma know-how of our compounds database can be translated into the food area.”
IMD and Cognis are working on several other projects in the areas of heart health, mood and immunity.
“Further ingredients from IMD matching our customers’ market demands are still in the exploration phase,” said Norbert Weitkemper, Nutrition & Health director of strategic business development at Cognis.
IMD is also working with cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical companies.
Becker said IMD’s database could be utilised by suppliers and supplements manufacturers seeking to build dossiers for Traditional Herbal Medicinal Product Directive (THMPD) registrations required before 2011.
Its database is derived from a host of plants as well as edible materials such fruits, vegetables and mushrooms.
IMD recently joined with a Malaysian herbal specialist, Biotropics Malaysia Berhad, to “investigate and commercialise” botanicals in the sub-tropical jungle there.