Nature's medicine chest

The natural world has been the source of many of our medicines.

From deep-sea vents to the plant-choked jungles of Brazil and Malaysia, scientists are scouring the globe in search of the next natural product to cure some of our most intractable ills.

Nature is a treasure trove of useful chemicals and today's pharmaceutical companies are hunting for life-saving agents in animals, plants, fungi and bacteria.

Indeed, nearly half of all drugs were originally derived from natural sources. For instance, the most widely used breast cancer drug, taxol, was developed from the bark of the Pacific yew tree. An important cancer drug, vincristine, was discovered in the rosy periwinkle, native to Madagascar. Aggrastat, which inhibits blood clotting, is based on the venom of the saw-scaled viper from Africa.

Bioprospecting or biopiracy?

The industry has a long history of bioprospecting - hunting for natural drugs in exotic locations. One argument in favour of maintaining the Earth's biodiversity is that medically useful products may exist in as-yet-undiscovered organisms.

A good starting-point is often material already thought to have healing powers, for example through its use in indigenous medicine. Some prefer the term 'biopiracy' to describe this 'borrowing' of native knowledge, as indigenous people may not benefit from commercial development of pharmaceutical products. Recently, profit-sharing schemes have been set up.