lecture 2 notes

Lecture 2:  

Traditional medicine  

• Made from plants and other biological materials, contains natural compounds called primary and secondary metabolites  

• Each compound within the natural product can elicit a biological response which can be therapeutic and/or toxic  

• The mixture of compounds can work together to produce a larger response (synergistic) or work against each other (antagonistic) 

Ethnopharmacology 

• The bridge between traditional practices and modern medicines  

• Interdisciplinary field involving botany, chemistry and pharmacology  

• Aims to ensure efficacy, quality and safety  

• Can also be the first step in drug discovery  

Drug discovery  

• Individual compounds within natural compounds are separated then identified by their chemical features such as polarity and charge  

• Drugs with desirable activities are identified through biological screening  

• Drugs will elicit concentration dependent responses (both therapeutic and toxic)  

Opium  

• Contains several natural alkaloids (bse compounds) including morphine which was first isolated in 1803  

• Morphine was 10x more powerful than processed opium --> shows that molecules within opium were antagonistic  

Rongoā Māori 

• Traditional healing system specific to NZ 

• Involves the use of rongoa rakau (plant-derived medicines) to treat injuries  

Rongoa rakau  

• More than 200 plants used medicinally  

• Identifications essential since using the wrong plants can cause harm  

• Harvesting only occurs when the environment and harvesters are in an optimal state 

Who owns drugs from nature  

• Traditional medicines --> indigenous populations either own, act as guardians of the natural resources  

• Patent law rewards inventors for their creative actions, rather than protecting the rights of property and knowledge owners  

How can benefits be shared  

• Scientists and companies can compensate indigenous people by sharing profits from commercialisation however benefit isn't guaranteed and the timeframe of drug development is lengthy  

• Partnership is best to ensure conservation and sustainable use of resources, mutual transfer of knowledge  and skills, fair and equitable sharing of benefits and risks