Danish tycoon moves into herbal medicine

Danish tycoon Erik Sprunk-Jansen, former ceo of pharmaceutical company Lundbeck, has bought up worldwide rights to 25 herbal medical products with extensive clinical and practical documentation as the basis for a global herbal medicine company, Sprunk-Jansen A/S.

'The 25 products all come from traditional Arabic medicine. The products work on various illnesses such as male infertility, psoriasis, acne and increased cholesterol,' said biochemist Dr Stephen Fulder, a leading herbal medicine expert. 'These are illnesses that strike millions of people around the world.'

Ten years ago traditional Arabic medicine was revived by a group of Palestinian researchers in Israel who formed a new company called Antaki. The 25 products are the first result of their work. Sales of natural products are forecast to increase, the company says, both as a result of surging consumer demand for herbal medicine and rising development costs for synthetic medicines.

Sprunk-Jansen is set to enter the Danish market at the end of the year and the Baltic countries in early 2005. Poland and the other Nordic countries will follow in 2005 and 2006. At the same time licensing agree-ments are to be made in the most promising markets, including the US, Russia, Japan and Asia.

Chairman Erik Sprunk-Jansen said: 'We have ensured the financial means to maintain the necessary speed in our development. We are going to work with own sales companies in the Nordic and Baltic markets and with licensees in more remote markets.'