[Pharm-policy] South Africa: Tribal remedy plundered

[James Love]

http://www.lineone.net/express/00/11/12/news/n3620-d.html

L1news
Daily Express, Micro Edition
12 November 2000

Tribal remedy plundered
FROM JANE FLANAGAN IN BONGOLETHU,
SOUTH AFRICA

ONE of Africa's oldest tribes who discovered "Nature's Prozac" thousands
of years ago is set to lose out on a multi-million pound deal to market
the remedy worldwide.

Sceletium, a rare creeper which grows only in the Cape region of South
Africa and is known locally as Kanna, has been used by the Khoisan tribe
since prehistoric times.

Scientists have spent years unlocking the plant's secrets. The patent
rights to develop it as a natural alternative to the anti-depressant
drug Prozac are now on the market.

Kanna is described as ideal "for use in the treatment of depression,
anxiety, alcohol and drug dependence, bulimia and compulsive disorders".

A doctor at Pharma Natura, the Johannesburg-based drugs company which is
selling the patent rights, predicted: "It will one day be like aspirin -
everyone will take it." Tribal leaders are resentful that they will not
profit from the commercial development of their ancestors' discovery.

Solomon Mahlaba, chairman of a traditional healers' committee set up to
advise the South African government on the use of indigenous plants,
said: "We have passed on our knowledge, but we receive nothing in
return. It is another example of the way indigenous people continue to
be exploited." Although legislation is being considered that will give
tribes the right to reimbursement in exchange for their expertise, any
sharing of profits is dis-cretionary.


   [snip]