Putting nature back into medicine.

Evithé biotechnology is expanding the global medicines toolbox by harnessing millions of years of plant evolution into novel botanical drugs with the intention to cure, mitigate, treat or prevent disease in humans.

The unique biodiversity of the South Pacific provides an outstanding opportunity for high value botanical drug development.

Our surveys identified a significant market pull with 78% of consumers indicating to prefer a botanical drug over a synthetic chemical, and 70% of practitioners are confident in prescribing botanical drugs.

Watch Evithé's founder Cynthia Hunefeld talk about the story behind Evithé.

Watch an in-depth interview with Cynthia's journey in founding Evithé and her mission of commercially developing complex botanicals.

Evithé Biotechnology was founded in 2017. Following an academic journey of 12 years in the field of plant medicine, clinical research and a Masters in Innovation & Commercialisation. 

Evithé biotechnology is inspired by the way that plants have evolved over thousands of years and has found a way to harness their actions into novel botanical drugs with the intention to cure, mitigate, treat or prevent disease in humans.

The Botanical Drug Development Project won multiple awards including:

Auto-Inflammation

Our botanical drug development process is set out to support people with auto-inflammatory diseases. Auto-inflammation is a disease process where the bodies immune system tries to fight an infection, panics and accidentally self-destructs, causing tissue and organ damage.

Auto-inflammation affects 4% of the world population in a variety of degrees of severity from sepsis, to diseases like rheumatoid arthritis to bladder pain, which is known as interstitial cystitis.

The drugs currently used to tackle auto-inflammation are not very effective, and typically tackling just one step in the body’s reaction.

Evithé Biotechnology collaborates with nature

Plants have evolved to produce an array of active constituents to treat diseases by addressing multiple targets at the same time.

Evithé Biotechnology applies nature's evolutionary processes in botanical drug development for better treatment outcomes.

The team

Cynthia Hunefeld

Founder & CEO

Mrs Hunefeld dedicated her life, work and studies in ethnobotany, plant medicine, Post graduate Diploma in clinical research and Masters in Innovation & Commercialisation to the development of botanical medicines.

Dr Andrew Kelly

Executive Chair

Dr Kelly brings his extensive experience in all aspects of the Innovation & Commercialisation through his long and successful career in Australia & New Zealand and his firm BioPacific Partners.

Allan MacDonald

Director

After successful careers with Mobil and Sony, Allan helped to establish the CSI (food) group of companies within New Zealand.

He has developed an extensive skill set through his involvement in opening and building international markets and scaling companies. Covering establishing manufacturing facilities, creating strong, resilient, innovative supply chains, building high quality back-office support structures, and developing responsive and effective sales & marketing teams.

Skilled in developing enduring relationships with clients, suppliers and other stakeholders – including overseeing complex contract negotiations and helping to guide innovative and groundbreaking Product development programs, he brings a wealth of experience to the Board to help with Evithé’s rapid growth.

Dr Jane Calvert

Legal Advisor

Registered Trans-Tasman patent attorney with a PhD in Organic Chemistry. Jane has unique knowledge of both biotechnology and botanical drug development as well as the requirements for innovation and commercialisation pathways.

She brings a wealth of practical experience in building a companies intellectual property portfolio from start-up to large corporate from laboratory to public listing.

Lorraine Thomson

Independent Director

A Master of Business Administration from New Zealand’s leading business school at the University of Auckland, Lorraine has a particular focus on innovation and strategic growth. She is an ArcAngel investor and an experienced company director on five boards, including the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute.

She is a former award-winning journalist, editor, publisher and author. Titles she has edited include New Zealand Pharmacy journal and also sub-editor of The National Business Review.

Charlotte Page

Operations Assistant

Charlotte has recently completed a PhD in Chemistry and has a background in drug discovery and development. Charlotte assists with day-to-day operations, contributing her practical knowledge and experience to the role.”

Contact us

At our current stage we welcome interest from investors, as well as those that have a desire to follow our developments.

You can also connect with Evithé through our digital channels in order to stay up to date.

Evithé, life is in our name.

Evithé [eɪ Viː teɪ]

An early European derivative of the Hebrew Evia, meaning 'source (or breath) of life'.

©2022 Evithé Biotechnology