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History
Phynova was founded in July of 2002 to develop drugs that satisfy unmet therapeutic needs in areas such as: infectious disease, metabolic disease and cancer. The Company's headquarters are located in Blenheim Office Park in Oxford.
Phynova is developing Drug Candidates which are mainly derived from botanical medicines and have proved effective and safe in clinical use in China. The Chinese have been using botanical medicines for thousands of years and over that time have built up a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the medicinal use of plants. In a number of areas these medicines are used in China in circumstances where there is an unmet therapeutic need in the West. Since all of Phynova's Drug Candidates are derived from plants, its drugs will be produced from sustainable resources.
Plants are an important source for the discovery of novel pharmacologically-active compounds, with many of today's major drugs being derived directly or indirectly from plants. Examples include:
- Aspirin, based on salicin, a compound obtained from the bark of the willow tree;
- Taxol, a cancer drug derived from yew trees;
- Digoxin, a drug used to treat heart disease which is derived from foxgloves; and
- Artemether, an anti-malaria drug derived from a Chinese medicinal herb, Artemesia.
Phynova has developed relationships with researchers and government agencies in China and built its own expertise in Chinese medicinal plants and Western drug development. Through its contacts with researchers in China, Phynova has obtained access to Chinese research data and it has licensed-in Drug Candidates for development and sale in Western markets. It's management is made up of a number of scientists from China and major Western pharmaceutical companies, who collectively have many years of experience of drug development in both China and the West. The Company has a number of collaborations with highly regarded research institutions in Europe and China.