Clinical trials may be done towards the end of the year with
three indigenous plants believed to have diabetes-treating
properties, the Medical Research Council (MRC) has unveiled.
Research has provisionally found the plants - currently
prescribed by traditional healers to their patients - to be
effective and non-toxic, Sonia Wolfe-Coote, the MRC diabetes
research head, said in Pretoria today.
Tests on laboratory rats have yielded promising results, she
told Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the health minister, and health
MECs during a presentation on the disease and its effects on
South Africa. If successful, a drug developed from the research
would be much cheaper than existing commercial medicine for type
2 diabetes. Existing medicines were too costly for most South
Africans, Wolfe-Coote added.
Some eight million South Africans were believed to be afflicted
by type 2 diabetes and needed to use medicine every day of their
lives. She declined to name the three plants being tested, but
said they were found only in South Africa.
The research started with diabetes patients at Eastern Cape
clinics being questioned about the type of treatments prescribed
to them by traditional healers, and whether these worked. This
was followed by tests of the plants' active ingredients on
tissue cultures, and then on laboratory rats. The MRC's diabetes
research group worked closely with the University of Port
Elizabeth and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) on the
project.
Apart from the obvious benefits for diabetes sufferers, the
development of an indigenous drug would boost job creation
though the establishment of commercial farms to cultivate the
medicinal plants. The ARC has already started research in this
area, the gathering was told. Wolfe-Coote said the research
group hoped to start with clinical trials by the end of this
year - but this depended on funding. The research had been done
on a shoestring budget so far.
To fully exploit the research - and to extend it to all nine
provinces - just over R8 million was needed for each of the
following three years, she told Tshabalala-Msimang and MECs.
Partnership
Johan Louw, a research group scientist, said an agreement has
been struck with traditional healers and their communities for a
50/50 benefit-sharing scheme once the drug became commercially
available. Wolfe-Coote said diabetes was one of the most
challenging public health problems of the 21st century -
particularly for the African continent.
It was the fourth or fifth leading cause of death in most
countries, and its spread was being fanned in the developing
world by changing cultural and socio-economic changes. This
included a more fatty and unhealthy western diet, and reduced
physical activity. By 2025, it is expected that 76% of diabetes
sufferers would be in developing countries, Wolfe-Coote says.
Also worrying was that diabetes sufferers were increasingly
younger. Nowadays, most sufferers in South Africa were between
the ages of 40 and 59. Tshabalala-Msimang welcomed the research
in light of the extent of the problem in South Africa and the
search for more affordable medicines.
"It also assists us to be open-minded about traditional
medicines," she said.
One had to remember, however, that the distribution of
government resources was a tricky matter requiring much
juggling, Tshabalala-Msimang stated. - Sapa
http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/health/0,2172,74867,00.html
Article printout courtesy of the South African Broadcasting
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