UK Agent for
Phyto-Technologies, Inc. PRESS RELEASE!Phyto-Technologies, Inc. awarded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant. November 2, 2001 – Woodbine, Iowa/Glen Rock, New Jersey Phyto-Technologies, Inc. has been awarded Grant 1 R44AT00770-01: Reproducible Feverfew Preparations for Migraine Trials by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services. This grant has been awarded under the Small Business Innovation Research Program and will be fully funded. Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) leaf has shown promise in the prevention of migraine symptoms. However, in order to assure consumers that feverfew products are effective, the plant materials and extracts used in such products must be correctly identified and standardized so that they will produce consistent results. Our research plan proposes a unique multifaceted approach to the characterization and standardization of feverfew leaf materials and their preparations. Our goal is to identify feverfew plant materials that have been used in prior successful clinical trials and, using unique quality control methods, to facilitate the reproduction of such materials of consistent quality to be used in the preparation of highly reproducible feverfew products for clinical trials in migraine prevention. The ultimate goal is to produce effective feverfew products for commerce. The Principal Investigator for the project is Dr. Albert Y. Leung, president of Phyto-Technologies, Inc. and a classically trained Pharmacognosist well-known in the herbal products industry as being an outspoken advocate for quality and safety in herbal products. According to Dr. Leung, one of the major reasons that many herbal products don’t work is because poor-quality or wrong herbs and their extracts are used. The research conducted under this grant will include a higher-than-normal level of product characterization prior to going to clinical trials. Therefore, he is confident that the research performed under this grant will lead not only to the production of reproducible feverfew products that will be consistently effective in migraine prevention but also the establishment of a new model for defining the quality of herbal products in general. The co-investigator for this project is Dr. Dennis Awang of MediPlant, Inc., an expert in the chemistry of feverfew.
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