 The plant was discovered a few years ago by US scientists and Phytopharm patented the active substance of the plant, the P57 molecule. This molecule is responsible for not feeling hunger, fooling the hypothalamic part of the brain into not sensing hunger. At the present it seems like the Hoodia Gordonii is the only plant in the world that contains it.
Countries of South-Africa, Botswana and Namibia want to make Hoodia protected specie as the pharmaceutical companies are harvesting the cactus without restriction and the plant is quite rare. If the plant is put on the list of protected species this would mean that companies would need several licenses to harvest it and thus it would be protected from extinction. Phytopharm is not concerned about this initiative as they are sure to get all the necessary licenses. For them the new measures would mean a welcomed restriction on illegal exporters and thus a cutback on their concurrency. This would indeed be a serous measure if we consider today’s market of the non-prescription Hoodia products which attracts a profit of over 3 million dollars in the US only.
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In every two or three years time there comes a new wonder pill which promises fast and easy weight loss. Most of these are efficient for 1 percent of the obese population and the rest for none. The biggest hit of the past year was a plant called Hoodia Gordonii. You could read about it in the papers, in magazines or on the internet, but it was also presented in TV shows. Specialists are calling the discovery of Hoodia Gordonii the biggest breakthrough in weight loss research of the decade.