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By December of 2001, and $20 million later, Phytopharm had the first clinical study that showed obese people who took P57 (extracted from Hoodia pills ) ate 1,000 calories fewer per day with no adverse side effects!

Eventually pharmaceutical giant Pfizer learned about hoodia pills and expressed interest in developing a hoodia pills medication. In 1998, Phytopharm sub-licensed the rights to develop p57 to Pfizer for $21 million. Pfizer returned the rights to hoodia pills to Phytopharm, who is now working with Unilever.

The deal calls for Unilever to use the Hoodia pills extract in its consumer products - things like the Slimfast line. First products are slated to be released in 2008.

No, P57 is not available in pill form and probably never will be. Pfizer's goal was never to harvest P57 from Hoodia pills plants. They thought they would be able to study the pills molecule and make a synthetic version for much less than the cost of harvesting Hoodia pills and extracting ills. It turns out that making a synthetic version was cost prohibitive.

In order to prepare for these products, Phytopharm has been doing deals to lock up a good portion of the Hoodia pills that is available in the Kalahari Desert, leaving only a small amount for anyone else to purchase.

Even then, it took another 30 years for South African laboratories to isolate the specific appetite suppressing ingredient in Hoodia pills. This ingredient was called P57 and licensed to the British pharmaceutical company.