Jaguar Health Subsidiary Napo Pharmaceuticals Wins 2019 Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award
SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 20, 2020 / Jaguar Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAGX) (“Jaguar” or the “Company”), today announced that the nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) has given the 2019 Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award to the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Napo”) in recognition of Napo’s ongoing commitment to the sustainable development and production of natural therapeutic preparations. Specifically, this award acknowledges the successful development and approval of crofelemer, which is derived from the medicinal Croton lechleri tree in the Amazon rainforest.
Crofelemer, the active ingredient in Mytesi®, the Company’s FDA-approved prescription drug product, is a naturally derived new molecular entity extracted and purified from the red bark sap of the Croton lechleri tree. The Croton lechleri sap, commonly known as sangre de drago (which translates to “dragon’s blood” in Spanish), has a long history of medicinal use by indigenous peoples.
“We are very grateful to the American Botanical Council for this recognition,” stated Steven King, PhD, Jaguar Health’s executive vice president of sustainable supply, ethnobotanical research and intellectual property. “We in turn would like to specifically acknowledge the intellectual contribution of local and indigenous peoples of the Northwest Amazon Basin for identifying the healing properties of traditional plant medicines. We would like to be sure that the international medical and patient community know that indigenous science and ethnomedical expertise continues to provide solutions to medical challenges for humans and animals.”
Lisa Conte, Jaguar Health’s president and CEO, commented, “We are delighted to receive this award that recognizes our focus on developing and commercializing novel, sustainably-derived therapeutics to enhance gastrointestinal health around the globe. We are also pleased to be among the distinguished group of past recipients that includes our esteemed partner, Indena.”
Indena S.p.A., one of the world’s largest producers of clinically-tested botanical extracts for the food, dietary supplement, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical markets, received the ABC Tyler award in 2008.
The ABC Tyler Award was created to honor one of the most respected U.S. scientists in late-20th century herbal medicine and pharmacognosy (the science that studies drugs of natural origin, usually from plants). Professor Varro E. Tyler, PhD was an early trustee of ABC, and vice-president of academic affairs and dean of the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Purdue University. He was the senior author of six editions of the leading pharmacognosy textbook that was formerly used in every college of pharmacy in the United States, and numerous other professional and popular books and academic articles. Tyler encouraged scientific and product integrity, and envisioned a rational phytomedicinal health care sector that valued the proper evaluation of a phytomedicinal product’s quality, safety, and efficacy.
ABC’s founder and executive director Mark Blumenthal commented on this award: “During my 46-year career in the medicinal plant research and education community, Professor Varro Tyler was one of my prime mentors. He was strongly committed to the proposition that companies dealing with botanicals should invest some of their revenues into research on their phytomedicinal ingredients and products. I had the good fortune to accompany him on his two trips to the Peruvian Amazon in the 1990s for the ABC ‘Pharmacy from the Rainforest’ Ethnobotany Ecotours, where we witnessed the traditional use of the red sangre de drago sap from the tree bark. With Napo Pharmaceuticals’ sustainable development of the trees for harvesting the sap and their development of an FDA-approved drug from it, I firmly believe that if he were here today, Professor Tyler would fully support our choice of Napo Pharmaceuticals for this award in his name.”
ABC chief science officer Stefan Gafner commented, “Napo Pharmaceuticals has not only compelling science, but also an exceptional track record with regards to its sustainability practices, e.g., its harvesting process, initiatives to conserve the environment in which the Croton lechleri trees grow, and benefit-sharing strategy with the countries and cultural groups with which it collaborates. In my opinion, this company is a role model for the entire botanical drug and dietary supplement industry.”
Previous recipients of the ABC Tyler Award include GW Pharmaceuticals (2018); Pharmatoka (2017); Brassica Protection Products (2016); MediHerb/Integria Healthcare (2015); SFI Flordis International (2014); Wakunaga Pharmaceutical Company (2013); Horphag Research (2012); Bioforce (2011); New Chapter (2010); Bionorica (2009); Indena (2008); and Dr. Willmar Schwabe Pharmaceuticals (2007).
The award will be presented at the 15th Annual ABC Botanical Celebration and Awards Ceremony on March 4, 2020, in Anaheim, California. The event, open for ABC Sponsor Members, occurs during Natural Products Expo West.
About the American Botanical Council
Established in 1988, the American Botanical Council (ABC) is the leading independent, nonprofit, international member-based organization providing education using science-based and traditional information to promote the responsible use of herbal medicine. ABC serves the public, researchers, educators, healthcare professionals, industry and media, and has been a highly respected source and an innovative force for many years.
About Jaguar Health, Inc.
Jaguar Health, Inc. is a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel, sustainably derived gastrointestinal products on a global basis. Our wholly owned subsidiary, Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., focuses on developing and commercializing proprietary human gastrointestinal pharmaceuticals for the global marketplace from plants used traditionally in rainforest areas. Our Mytesi® (crofelemer) product is approved by the U.S. FDA for the symptomatic relief of noninfectious diarrhea in adults with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy.
For more information about Jaguar, please visit jaguar.health. For more information about Napo, visit napopharma.com.
About Mytesi®
Mytesi (crofelemer) is an antidiarrheal indicated for the symptomatic relief of noninfectious diarrhea in adult patients with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Mytesi is not indicated for the treatment of infectious diarrhea. Rule out infectious etiologies of diarrhea before starting Mytesi. If infectious etiologies are not considered, there is a risk that patients with infectious etiologies will not receive the appropriate therapy and their disease may worsen. In clinical studies, the most common adverse reactions occurring at a rate greater than placebo were upper respiratory tract infection (5.7%), bronchitis (3.9%), cough (3.5%), flatulence (3.1%), and increased bilirubin (3.1%).
See full Prescribing Information at Mytesi.com. Crofelemer, the active ingredient in Mytesi, is a botanical (plant-based) drug extracted and purified from the red bark sap of the medicinal Croton lechleri tree in the Amazon rainforest. Napo has established a sustainable harvesting program for crofelemer to ensure a high degree of quality and ecological integrity.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements.” These include statements regarding the expectation that the award will be presented at the 15th Annual ABC Botanical Celebration and Awards Ceremony on March 4, 2020, in Anaheim, California. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “aim,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are only predictions. Jaguar has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond Jaguar’s control. Some of the factors that could affect our actual results are included in the periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by applicable law, Jaguar does not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.
Contact:
Peter Hodge
Jaguar Health, Inc.
phodge@jaguar.health
Jaguar-JAGX
SOURCE: Jaguar Health, Inc.
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