West Coast Editor

Nutra Pharma Corp., which is focused on making pharmaceutical-grade products with botanical extracts, said it signed a letter of intent to acquire Bio Therapeutics Inc. for cash and stock.

The deal is worth about $50 million, mostly in stock, said Tom Ronk, investor relations spokesman for Seattle-based Nutra Pharma.

“We’re trying to take the whole gamut have the platform technology, the product candidates and delivery of those product candidates all under one roof,” he said, which is why Nutra Pharma is extending “about 49 percent of the company” to take over Bio Therapeutics.

“One thing we would not do is distribute [the drug candidates],” Ronk added. “We’re looking for licensing opportunities as we speak.”

Bio Therapeutics, of Plantation, Fla. founded in 1984 as Phylomed Inc. has two main technology platforms.

One platform alters the 3-dimensional structure of proteins and peptides, preserving their receptor-binding characteristics. The binding of specialized signaling proteins and peptides to cell surface receptors is an important part in the pathogenesis and progression of many different diseases, the company points out, and modifying peptides that do not activate the normal biochemical pathways necessary for disease to progress could restore tissue function or create a beneficial effect on immunity.

Bio Therapeutics has product candidates in multiple sclerosis, HIV, herpes, hepatitis C and cancer. The lead “immunokine,” as the designed drugs are called, is a treatment for MS.

“It’s finished Phase I [trials], and they’ve applied for a Phase II/III combined trial,” Ronk told BioWorld Today. One wheelchair-bound MS patient was able to get up and walk unassisted only 30 minutes after administration of the drug, the company said.

“We have that on video,” Ronk said. Bio Therapeutics has four registered patents and two pending, Ronk said, noting the patents are “very general and extensive on peptide technology.”

The second major platform is an aerosolized drug delivery system said to enhance permeability of the mucous membranes found in the mouth and throat, thereby improving drug delivery.

Nutra Pharma was formed to acquire compounds and firms with approaches in line with its own, such as the January purchase from Panama-based Bio Pharma SA of a wound-healing compound based on a naturally occurring carbohydrate. Nutra Pharma said it would invest about $1.8 million in developing the drug further.

“We’re finding companies that have gotten from point B’ to point M,’ and we want to take them from point M’ to point Z,’” Ronk said. “These are companies that have spent years in research and development, filing patents and doing their clinical studies.”

Nutra Pharma’s stock (OTCBB:NPHC) closed Tuesday at $1.90, down 25 cents.