Ensuring Equitable Benefits: The Falealupo Covenant and the Isolation of Anti-Viral Drug Prostratin from a Samoan Medicinal Plant

Abstract

Equitable sharing of benefits from pharmacological development of biodiversity has been the topic of much discussion, but few concrete examples of recent plant-derived pharmaceuticals exist. The discovery of prostratin as an anti-viral phorbol isolated from healer preparations of the rain forest tree Homalanthus nutans in Samoa illustrates the importance of careful liaison between western scientists and indigenous leaders. Development of prostratin as an anti-AIDS drug candidate was based on a carefully negotiated covenant between the chiefs and orators of Falealupo village and western researchers, with the concurrence of the Samoan Prime Minister and members of parliament. Since, like all drug candidates, potential commercial development of prostratin still remains uncertain, the case of prostratin indicates the importance of providing benefits to indigenous peoples in advance of royalty or license income. To date, over US$ 480,000 have been supplied to Falealupo village for schools, medical clinics, water supplies, trails, an aerial rain forest canopy walkway, and an endowment for the rain forest based on the Falealupo Covenant. And, in August 2001 the AIDS Research Alliance (ARA) signed an agreement with the Prime Minister of Samoa guaranteeing a total of 20% of all ARA profits from the development of prostratin to be returned to Samoa.

A Historical Overview of Natural Products in Drug Discovery

“…The most important result of these tests is the class of compounds known as the calanolides. In particular the isolation of calanolide A ( 24 ) and calanolide B ( 25 ) from the Calonphyllum species, along with prostratin ( 26 ) from Homalanthus nutans , have now progressed into clinical and preclinical development (Figure 8) [68,69,70]. Calanolide A ( 24 ) was licensed and evaluated to Phase II clinical trials by Sarawak Medichem Pharmaceuticals, however there has been no subsequent announcement for further drug development.…”

The Value of Tropical Biodiversity in Rural Melanesia

“…For various reasons, neither of these options has provided, or is likely to provide, significant financial benefits for rural people in PNG or Solomon Islands, particularly compared to extractive industries and development aid (Gay 2009). In the case of bioprospecting, effective systems for equitably distributing any royalties from new drug discoveries have never been found, apart from the well-publicized case of a single village in Samoa (Cox 2001), and it is often possible to cheaply synthesize many compounds once discovered and characterized. Tourism suffers from lack of transport and infrastructure, and tourist fears of high crime levels (especially in the capital cities) and infectious diseases (see Foale, 2001;Filer, 2011a).…”

De novo assembly of Euphorbia fischeriana root transcriptome identifies prostratin pathway related genes

“…Prostratin was first discovered during ethno botanical studies carried out on the island of Savai'i, Samoa, where native healers used the bark of Homalanthus nutans , a small rain-forest tree from the Euphorbiaceae family, called "mamala" to treat hepatitis infection [3,4]. Prostratin has been shown in previous studies to be a protein kinase C activator [5] and effective in the treatment of HIV infected patients, by acting as a latent HIV1 activator, enabling anti-viral drugs to eliminate a large proportion of viral reservoirs in the body [6,7].…”