Biologic Diversity Inspires Search for Medicine in Brazil

12/11/2017 - 10h52

A 100% national initiative will search for new substances from the biodiversity of Brazilian plants aiming to take new medicines to drugstores shelves. Although the research is still at an initial phase, expectations are high.

Pharmaceutical laboratory Aché, the National Laboratory of Biosciences (a member of the CNPEM - the National Research Center in Energy and Materials) and Phytobios, a company specialized in prospecting and obtaining extracts from nature, have joined together with one purpose.

The partnership will be announced on Monday, December 11.

One of the two projects will prospect an oncologic medication. The other is likely to be used in dermatologic treatments or in cosmetics as it has an anti-aging agent.

The investment in the first phase to develop the project totals R$ 10 million (US$ 3 million), half of this amount will be paid for by Aché. Of the remainder, a part will be paid for by CNPEM and Phytobiose jointly, and the other by Embrapii, the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Research and Innovation.

The investment will be used to pay for the first five years of the development, which essentially involves the creation of a library and the initial chemical tests.

The innovation director of Aché, Stephani Saverio, says that resorting to biodiversity in search for "inspiration" is not a luxury, but a necessity in an era when synthesizing new chemical components is an almost impossible task.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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