Biopiracy versus One-World Medicine-From colonial relicts to global collaborative concepts

Efferth T 1 , Banerjee M 2 , Abu-Darwish MS 3 , Abdelfatah S 4 , Böckers M 4 , Bhakta-Guha D 5 Show all authors , Bolzani V 6 , Daak S 7 , Demirezer ÖL 8 , Dawood M 4 , Efferth M 4 , El-Seedi HR 9 , Fischer N 4 , Greten HJ 10 , Hamdoun S 4 , Hong C 4 , Horneber M 11 , Kadioglu O 4 , Khalid HE 12 , Khalid SA 13 , Kuete V 14 , Mahmoud N 4 , Marin J 15 , Mbaveng A 14 , Midiwo J 16 , Nakagawa H 17 , Naß J 4 , Ngassapa O 18 , Ochwang'i D 19 , Omosa LK 16 , Ooko EA 4 , Özenver N 20 , Poornima P 21 , Romero MR 15 , Saeed MEM 4 , Salgueiro L 22 , Seo EJ 4 , Yan G 4 , Yasin Z 23 , Saeed EM 24 , Paul NW 25

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany. Electronic address: efferth@uni-mainz.de
  • 2 Department of English and Linguistics, American Studies, Center for Comparative Native and Indigenous Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
  • 3 Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany; Shoubak University College, Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan
  • 4 Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany
  • 5 School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA University, Thanjavur 613401, TN, India
  • 6 Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, São Paulo State University, Araraquara, Brazil
  • 7 Dr. Salah Wanesi Foundation for Cancer Research and Control, Khartoum, Sudan
  • 8 Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy, Ankara, Turkey
  • 9 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Uppsala University, Biomedical Center, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 10 Biomedical Sciences Institute Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Heidelberg School of Chinese Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany
  • 11 Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Oncology and Hematology, Paracelsus Medical University, Klinikum Nürnberg, Germany
  • 12 Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan
  • 13 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Science and Technology, Omdurman, Sudan; Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Khartoum, Karthoum, Sudan
  • 14 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon
  • 15 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Experimental Hepatology and Drug Targeting (HEVEFARM), CIBERehd, IBSAL, University of Salamanca Campus Miguel de Unamuno, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
  • 16 Department of Chemistry, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
  • 17 Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chubu University, Kasugai, Aichi, Japan
  • 18 Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  • 19 Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
  • 20 Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany; Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy, Ankara, Turkey
  • 21 Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Laboratory, School of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of Abertay, Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • 22 Center of Neurosciences and Cell Biology and Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
  • 23 Tayba Cancer Center, Khartoum, Sudan
  • 24 Federal Government of Sudan, Khartoum, Sudan
  • 25 Institute for the History, Philosophy, and Ethics of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany
Phytomedicine, 2019 Feb;53:319-331.
PMID: 30190231 DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2018.06.007

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Practices of biopiracy to use genetic resources and indigenous knowledge by Western companies without benefit-sharing of those, who generated the traditional knowledge, can be understood as form of neocolonialism.

HYPOTHESIS: The One-World Medicine concept attempts to merge the best of traditional medicine from developing countries and conventional Western medicine for the sake of patients around the globe.

STUDY DESIGN: Based on literature searches in several databases, a concept paper has been written. Legislative initiatives of the United Nations culminated in the Nagoya protocol aim to protect traditional knowledge and regulate benefit-sharing with indigenous communities. The European community adopted the Nagoya protocol, and the corresponding regulations will be implemented into national legislation among the member states. Despite pleasing progress, infrastructural problems of the health care systems in developing countries still remain. Current approaches to secure primary health care offer only fragmentary solutions at best. Conventional medicine from industrialized countries cannot be afforded by the impoverished population in the Third World. Confronted with exploding costs, even health systems in Western countries are endangered to burst. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is popular among the general public in industrialized countries, although the efficacy is not sufficiently proven according to the standards of evidence-based medicine. CAM is often available without prescription as over-the-counter products with non-calculated risks concerning erroneous self-medication and safety/toxicity issues. The concept of integrative medicine attempts to combine holistic CAM approaches with evidence-based principles of conventional medicine.

CONCLUSION: To realize the concept of One-World Medicine, a number of standards have to be set to assure safety, efficacy and applicability of traditional medicine, e.g. sustainable production and quality control of herbal products, performance of placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trials, phytovigilance, as well as education of health professionals and patients.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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