From Plants to Pharmaceuticals: Take Bitter Roots for Malaria

Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm

Location: The New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, New York

How do plants become pharmaceuticals? In this talk, Abena Dove Osseo-Asare examine the history of efforts to patent a treatment for malaria made from the bitter roots of fever vine (Cryptolepis sanguinolenta). Malaria is a serious health risk in tropical West Africa. In Ghana, where these bitter roots became known as “Ghana Quinine,” a group of African scientists devoted their lives to creating a patented pharmaceutical from the plant. She considers their interactions with traditional healers from the 1940s, their struggles to establish a fledgling pharmaceutical industry, and the conflicts that complicated the success of the new drug in this postcolonial nation. This little known historical case provides a window into recent controversies surrounding biodiversity prospecting in tropical environments, the rights of indigenous peoples to shared benefits, and the quest for pharmaceutical patents. The talk is drawn from her book, Bitter Roots: The Search for Healing Plants in Africa.

=> Admission is free, but advance registration is required. Please register by clicking here.