February 2008

One of the most interesting articles published in the last few weeks was a careful look at the intellectual properties (IP) issues raised with advances in traditional medicine. It was written by an attorney specializing in biotechnology patents and published in Business Weekly, which covers innovation and venture capital.

It details the story of neem, one of the first "bio-piracy" cases. After a long-fought battle, the Indian government eventually overturned a patent on using neem as an antifungal product. The ruling was based on the theory of "prior art," recognizing that it had been used for thousands of years before an American company tried to patent it.

While traditional uses are protected, innovative uses are still allowed to be patented. From our perspective, that's a close-to-perfect blend of the options. The knowledge base is enhanced, researchers have the opportunity to benefit from their work and people around the world benefit with "proven" new uses.

With neem, most of the research is based on products that can easily be prepared in even the most primitive of laboratories, so that the benefits of advanced research are available to indigenous peoples. For example, neem leaf preparation cited in a recent report on using neem to treat squamous cell cancer in humans is a sophisticated leaf tea based on long-time use of water-soluble components in Indian communities.

Another human study on using neem to treat AIDS in humans uses an acetone extract of neem bark, which wouldn't be our first choice for a solvent but certainly is a simple and inexpensive option. Human volunteers who used the neem bark extract showed dramatic improvements in blood counts, weight gain and suppression of symptoms.

And finally, a new report the January 2008 issue of Journal of Enthopharmacology details how "crude" extracts of neem seed oil are used to treat sarcoptic mange on sheep, showing that the "use of folk remedies can provide an effective and economic way of combating sarcoptic mange in sheep."