Our Supporters: Meet PhytoQuest

Tell me a little about yourself…

I’m Dr Robert Nash, and I’m the head of PhytoQuest Ltd, which is a natural products discovery company based in Aberystwyth. I run the company, but I’m also involved in the lab research. We currently have four members of staff, and we’re looking to create a range of products from our researched compounds. We have a food and sports supplement called Q-Actin, which is doing well in the USA, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. It’s a patented product based on cucumber, which has anti-inflammatory properties, and can be beneficial to those with osteoarthritis.

History of the business?

It’s been a rollercoaster ride! We set up the company in 1999 initially as MolecularNature Limited (MNL) with investment from an English pharmaceutical company to discover medicines from plants. MNL focused on developing a compound library from plants and microbes, as well as researching an oncology molecule. We were then acquired by an Oxford company in 2006, but the company ran into financial trouble in 2009, which is when we decided to go it alone. We took some assets and raised capital again for the current business known as PhytoQuest.

{PhytoQuest CEO, Dr Robert Nash}

Projects/Products

We have discovered a new anti-cancer molecule that has strong anti-cancer activity in vivo. Whilst we’ve tested it across more than 100 cancer cell lines with no response, when taken orally by animals, there is a strong immune response triggered against the cancer cells. As most cancer drugs are toxic, we’re pleased to state that our compound is not, and it only requires a small dose to be effective. This is beneficial when thinking about long-term treatment and potential cost and it may well also allow doses of other toxic drugs to be reduced. While we can see the positive effects the compound is having in vivo, we’re still trying to understand how it’s working, which has stalled the product progression. We’ve been working with Swansea University through the Accelerate and CALIN programmes to better understand the compound. Once we’ve understood the workings, we believe it could be highly beneficial to cancer treatment, as it can be combined with other treatments such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy to make them more effective and safe.

In the meantime, we’ve found that the same molecule also occurs in a rare honey. It activates the immune system and can be used for prevention, not just in cancer, but for various infections. It gives protection in mice against influenza, tularaemia and salmonella, so we’re hoping the next stage would be to market the ‘IminoHoney’ as a preventative supplement for humans. Whether that’s to build your immune system before a long-haul flight or before/during a hospital stay. Research has been done to show that boosting your immune system helps enhance your protection against infection, and this is a great natural way to combat disease.

Is this drug cancer-specific?

Interestingly no. Early on, we did studies on mice and found that it had a strong effect against melanoma. We then looked at the honey as a natural molecule and decided to investigate feeding it to dogs with natural tumours, as an alternative to radiotherapy or chemotherapy. We’re not saying this can cure the dogs or entirely remove all tumours, but this can be an option to extend and offer a better quality of life for them. We gave the honey to some dogs with terminal cancer (3-4 weeks to live), and while it didn’t work with all of them due to compromised immune systems or aggressive cancers, we found that a number of these dogs bounced back and went on to live for months, if not years longer. For some of the dogs with visible tumours on their skin or jawline, we could see them shrinking and even disappearing. It’s also being used on other animals like horses, which develop a type of melanoma (sarcoids) normally around the saddle area. By introducing this molecule, the sarcoids are reducing or disappearing, which again is improving their livelihoods. Better yet, the dosage for a horse is the same as that of a dog because, despite the weight difference, it’s priming the immune system which then becomes self-activating.

We can’t eradicate people dying, but we believe that by boosting the immune system, we can prevent some cancers from forming or continue growing. For those who are already suffering from cancer, hopefully, this can offer a better quality of life for them and reduce the need to undertake more invasive or uncomfortable treatments such as chemotherapy.

{PhytoQuest uses start-of-the-art instruments to determine structures of novel new plant compounds}

How did you hear about the NP BioHUB?

I’ve been in contact with some key players in the BioHUB for many years, such as Professor Tariq Butt, as we’ve worked with his PhD students. When we heard about the hub, we knew we wanted to collaborate and work with the team. We’ve been working on some algal products alongside Dr Alla Silkina, and we’re also working with them on other plant compounds which we’ve isolated for study. As the hub is interested in building up a library of natural products, we’re keen to offer some of our materials to add to the library. By collaborating with the NP BioHUB, we’re able to reach a larger number of businesses, and this is how we can understand the real value of our compounds. The hub will accelerate the natural product discovery to development capabilities in Wales.

Why attend New IPM events?

We have a broad interest in the applications of natural products, and controlling pests is one of those. By attending an event where you have a diverse range of knowledge, we can learn from our peers and have a better understanding of the potential applications of our molecules through a different lens. We’ve made some great connections by attending New IPM events, one being with a group involved in the control of pathogens for bees. With bee colonies dying out, especially in wetter climates, we were discussing how our molecules might be able to boost bee immunity against pests and pathogens. We are hoping to attend New IPM 2025, and I look forward to networking with the community and driving change in this sector.