Partrnerships
The Company has established strategic non-equity collaborations with the University of Louisville, SRI International, the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences (formerly CIIT) and Research Triangle Institute. These collaborations represent a cost effective way to give the company access to a broad area of expertise and state of the art technology and equipment.
Plant products which address the risks with smokeless tobacco and smoking, currently available for partnering include:
- SP006, SP005, SP004 and SP001 - These proprietary products are being developed to reduce the incidence of oral cavity lesions, including leukoplakia (white patches), erythroplakia and oral carcinomas caused by smokeless tobacco. These products are validated by human trials for efficacy and safety.
- Anti-microbial plant products - These products can reduce tooth decay and oral cavities associated with smokeless tobacco use.
- Products for the enhancement of flavor and aroma of smokeless tobacco - The company possesses a special library of aromatic and flavorful plants including mints (about 300 varieties of Labiatae species), fruits etc. that can be used to enhance flavor and aroma of smokeless tobacco. These species have been selected based on specific marker compounds and their biological activities.
- SP001 - A proprietary product that can deactivate carcinogens and toxins and inhibit the cancer causing activity of benzo(α)pyrene, a carcinogen present in cigarette smoke. The active components of SP001P survive the very high pyrolysis temperatures under cigarette smoking conditions and are recovered in tobacco smoke in sufficient quantities to produce the desired biological effects.