PNG's Promising New Industry

Papua New Guinea may be close to tapping into the world market for natural products estimated at over US$26 billion a year, if a drug discovery programme conducted by scientists and institutions in the country proves successful.

The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) is taking the lead in this $US4 million (K13 million) International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) project in search for marine organisms and plant species that contain chemical properties for treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, cancer, HIV and other diseases.

UPNG and the University of Utah with support from the United States National Institute of Health are working together as major collaborating partners. They are being assisted by a cluster of other institutions both in PNG and overseas tasked to investigate and accomplish different components of the project.

UPNG and the Forest Research Institute's roles in this consortium include an inventory of plants; collection of ethno-medicinal plant species; preparation of extracts and screening them; conduct an economic valuation of natural products; develop Intellectual Property Rights legislation (in collaboration with PNG BioNET, School of Law, and Department of Environment and Conservation); and conduct outreach programmes to educate communities.

A random plant collection and inventory for anti-tuberculosis, anti-malaria, anti-HIV, and anti-cancer drugs in the last three years resulted in the collection of 250 plant samples from about 120 plant species for testing. The plant inventory and biodiscovery team is led by UPNG's Head of Pharmacology Discipline of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Teatulohi Matainaho. It includes Simon Saulei, Osia Gideon, Reddy Kuama and Pius Piskaut, and Robert Kiapranis from Forest Research Institute.

Several other projects in traditional medicine are also undertaken at UPNG that involves students and academics. The specimens collected are stored at the UPNG Natural Sciences Herbarium. These will later be studied and tested for their chemical contents and pharmacological properties.

In related preliminary studies, a total of 126 marine invertebrates were also collected. Extracts from these marine organisms are being prepared for screening in the HIV assay when the laboratories are set up and equipped. Matainaho who leads the PNG team of scientists and specialists is very excited with the way the programme has progressed so far.

He has good reasons to be happy because his search for research collaborations between institutions in PNG and the United States has been realised.

He declined job opportunities in the United States and Australia to become part of the team to establish a national research and development programme in PNG.

This resulted in the development of joint research proposals and grants with international researchers, part of which now includes the successful award for a drug discovery project at UPNG.

Matainaho said that many national scientists leave PNG to work overseas "out of frustration" because the government is not serious in funding research activities.

He said that young scientists need challenges to exploit their expertise for further development but the environment is not conducive in PNG. Matainaho took the option to remain and make a contribution to a new promising industry that would reap rewards for PNG.

He said that growing demand for traditional medicine and natural products in the world as alternative therapies resulted in an increase in the search for drugs in developing countries that have rich biodiversity. This coupled with abundant knowledge and widespread use of traditional medicines in PNG has triggered the interest of the scientific community in PNG (including UPNG) to take part in the drug discovery programme.

Traditional medicines used by indigenous PNG communities to treat diseases over hundreds of years, now have the potential to cater for the health needs of the rest of the world, if collaborative research work carried out by scientists in the discovery of potential medicinal drugs prove successful. Drugs manufactured and sold at commercial value have the potential to bring in revenue for PNG that could surpass revenue collectively generated from logging and mining operations.

Scientists believe that PNG has the potential to tap into the natural products market because for many years communities used plant materials to treat ailments and physical symptoms like headaches, mouth ulcers and tooth aches, infections of ear, nose, and throat, coughs and asthma, gastrointestinal diseases, malaria, gonorrhoea, snake bites and many others. More recently, traditional healers have indicated that there are plants that can be used to provide cure for cancer and HIV.

But the nation's rich biodiversity must be protected and conserved to ensure sustainability of the new industry.

Matainaho said PNG would carry out research sustainably and in the process develop its human resources and infrastructure.

This biodiversity driven technology will meet PNG's economic, social and health needs.

It is anticipated that the development of infrastructure and trained human resource will sustain the value of natural products and enhance the government's export-driven policy.

"We think our biological resources have the potential to bring in enormous benefit to PNG in terms of revenue generation. If we are successful in discovering drugs, we will add value to our biological resources for export," he added.