Hoodia is a genus of succulent plants in the family Apocynaceae that iswidely used traditionally by the San people of southern Africa as an appetitesuppressant, thirst quencher and as a cure for severe abdominal cramps,haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes. Various useshave been recorded among Anikhwe (Northern Botswana), Hai om (northern Namibia), Khomani (north western South Africa ), and the !Xun and Khwe (originally fromAngola ) communities. Less is known about the use of this group of plants byother indigenous people, but some records show limited use of Hoodia parts asfood items, albeit not as preferred food items. Hoodias are known to be used forcultural purposes in some areas (Hargreaves and Turner, 2002). Althoughrelatively difficult to cultivate, Hoodia ' s are attractive plants and are alsoused for horticultural purposes.

Hoodia Gordonii CSIR

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africaisolated an active compound (P57) for appetite suppression from H. gordonii .The CSIR licensed the rights for further development of P57 and the setting upof a sustainable production system to Phytopharm in the UK . Phytopharm in turnsub licensed the rights to Pfizer for the development and globalcommercialization. Pfizer has recently returned the clinical developmentalrights.