Hoodia is a genus of succulent plants in the family Apocynaceae that is widely used traditionally by the San people of southern Africa as an appetite suppressant, thirst quencher and as a cure for severe abdominal cramps, haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes. Various uses have been recorded among Anikhwe (Northern Botswana), Hai om (northern Namibia ), Khomani (north western South Africa ), and the !Xun and Khwe (originally from Angola ) communities. Less is known about the use of this group of plants by other indigenous people, but some records show limited use of Hoodia parts as food items, albeit not as preferred food items. Hoodias are known to be used for cultural purposes in some areas (Hargreaves and Turner, 2002). Although relatively difficult to cultivate, Hoodia ' s are attractive plants and are also used for horticultural purposes.
Hoodia Gordonii CSIR
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa isolated an active compound (P57) for appetite suppression from H. gordonii . The CSIR licensed the rights for further development of P57 and the setting up of a sustainable production system to Phytopharm in the UK . Phytopharm in turn sub licensed the rights to Pfizer for the development and global commercialization. Pfizer has recently returned the clinical developmental rights.
