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Update on Plandai's South African Operations
Plandaí Biotechnology Inc. has provided updated information on the status of the company's operations.
September 4/Johannesburg, South Africa/Marketwired -- Plandaí Biotechnology Inc. has provided updated information on the status of the company's operations, specifically addressing the manufacturing facility in South Africa, status of clinical trials, and expectation for commencing sales.
Roger Duffield, chairman and chief executive officer of Plandaí Biotechnology, stated, "As a company, we're excited to announce that our subsidiary, Green Gold Biotechnologies, has completed its state-of-the-art production facility in Mpumalanga, South Africa, in the heart of our tea estate. The unique processing and extraction system we employ to ensure that our products are highly bioavailable requires that we use only live plant material. We are therefore constrained to have our factory onsite, enabling processing to commence within an hour of harvest. The 10,000 square meter building is now complete, the equipment has arrived, and installation will commence in the coming weeks.
"The green tea, which will comprise the first of our extracts brought to market, is just coming out of its dormant season. We will shortly fertilize and then allow the tea bushes to reestablish the high levels of polyphenols, before commercial production commences. Once the facility is operational, we will begin running test batches through the system, comparing the results to our original product profiles to guarantee consistency of quality before full-scale production can take place. Our timeline is to have Phytofare™ Catechin Complex production ready by year end with our citrus-based Limonoid Glycoside Complex available summer 2014."
Commenting on when Phytofare Pheroid ("ph2") product will reach the market, Duffield added, "Once we realized that we had the incredible opportunity to obtain a license to use the Pheroid technology developed by North West University, we grasped the benefit this would have on our Phytofare products. We are projecting to begin validating finished ph2 Catechin Complex products in liquid, gel capsule, and topical cream, by early 2014, with product available to market before March 2014.
"We believe that the combination of these technologies will usher in a new era of botanical drug innovation and possibility. This is an amazing time for Plandaí as we near the end of more than decade of product development. We are blessed to have favorable test results coupled with overwhelming consumer enthusiasm as we approach the imminent market release of the first of many new products."
KEYWORDS: clinical trials facility South Africa
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