Philippe Rasoanaivo
1946-2016
by Hannah Bauman
HerbalGram. 2016; American Botanical Council
Renowned phytochemist Philippe Rasoanaivo, PhD, passed away on July 13, 2016, at the age of 69, after a heart attack. Rasoanaivo dedicated his professional career to bioprospecting the rich plant life of his native Madagascar for new plant-based medicines, particularly for malaria, and co-founded the Association for African Medicinal Plants Standards (AAMPS). At the time of his death, he was the research director at the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (IMRA) and a professor at the University of Antananarivo (UA) in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Rasoanaivo was instrumental in building up the natural products research industry in Madagascar and established collaborative connections throughout Africa. After earning his doctorate at UA, he pursued his post-doctoral studies with Norman R. Farnsworth, PhD, at the University of Illinois at Chicago as a Fulbright Scholar. He returned to Madagascar to continue his research on ethnomedicinal plant use for malaria and neurological diseases, working as a researcher at the National Centre for Applied Pharmaceutical Research. Upon joining the faculty at UA, he supervised more than 30 doctoral dissertations and mentored many young researchers.
“Philippe was not only a friend to many of us, but also one of the founding fathers of the [AAMPS],” wrote Thomas Brendler, CEO of Plantaphile (email to M. Blumenthal, August 22, 2016). “He was a major contributor to the African Herbal Pharmacopoeia and other AAMPS publications.”
The International Foundation for Science (IFS) awarded Rasoanaivo a total of four grants in the 1970s and 1980s, first in 1975 for his research on the wound-healing properties of Ilex mitis (Aquifoliaceae). From this work, clinical trials were performed on an extract called Fanaferol, which later became available for clinical use. Following a resurgence in malaria cases in Madagascar, Rasoanaivo switched his focus to traditional malaria remedies. He analyzed remedies used by rural populations, which led him to study alkaloids from Strychnos myrtoides (Loganiaceae) as an adjuvant therapy to chloroquine, an antimalarial drug. The combination therapy was more effective than chloroquine alone. In 2001, IFS awarded Rasoanaivo the sixth Sven Brohult Award. Named after the first president of IFS, the Sven Brohult Award recognizes excellence in research in developing countries, and is awarded every three years.
As the research director at IMRA, Rasoanaivo sought to balance modern techniques with local knowledge to keep treatments affordable and attainable. His approach to bioprospecting native plant remedies promoted economic development in Madagascar, where he also worked to sustain wild populations and biodiversity.
In 2002, Madagascar’s Ministry of Health established the Department of Traditional Medicine and Pharmacopoeias. There, Rasoanaivo worked closely with officials to create a regulatory framework that encouraged the use of traditional remedies while combating the ever-present threat of biopiracy. He also worked with international research and academic centers to collect more than 800 plant specimens over a period of seven years. This cooperative arrangement resulted in improved laboratories and equipment for UA, and the university continues to play a key role in the extraction of compounds from medicinal plants.
Rasoanaivo received numerous awards, grants, and other recognitions for his long and fruitful career. He was an invited professor at institutions in Italy and France, and served as an advisor for a World Health Organization initiative that promoted traditional medicine in Africa. He published more than 100 papers and held seven patents.
He received the Prize of the Malagasy Academy and a research prize awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education in Madagascar, as well as international honors from Cape Town, South Africa, to an entrepreneurship prize in Malaysia. In June 2016, he was awarded the prestigious Olusegun Obasanjo Prize for Scientific Discovery and Technological Innovation, which is bestowed by the African Academy of Sciences every two years to individuals whose scientific discoveries and innovations have helped improve their societies. The award was given in recognition of Rasoanaivo’s work on plant-based treatments for psychiatric and sleep disorders, convulsions, and male sexual dysfunction. When speaking of the award, Rasoanaivo was quoted as saying, “African problems require African solutions.”1
Rasoanaivo is survived by his wife and five daughters.
—Hannah Bauman
Reference
1. Ackbarally N. Plant medicine research makes scientist win science prize. SciDev.net. July 13, 2016. Available at: www.scidev.net/sub-saharan-africa/medicine/news/plant-medicine-scientist-win-science-prize.html. Accessed September 21, 2016.
1954-2016
by Hannah Bauman
HerbalGram. 2016; American Botanical Council
Martin Wedel, the managing director of purchasing and procurement at the Martin Bauer Group and grandson of company founder Martin Bauer, died on September 21, 2016, at the age of 62, after a battle with cancer. Wedel had been involved with the Martin Bauer Group from a young age, inspired by the examples of his grandfather and his father, Hans Wedel. According to a press release issued by the Martin Bauer Group on September 23, 2016, Martin Wedel “was well known not only for his good sense of humor but for his social involvement as well.”1
Wedel was born in 1954 in Vestenbergsgreuth, Germany, the first child of Hans and Sofie Wedel-Bauer. During his childhood, he often accompanied his father on trips to the Balkan Peninsula to visit suppliers of the botanicals used by the Martin Bauer Group, which has grown to become the leading botanical supplier in the world. This early exposure to the business allowed him to learn the intricacies of the tea industry, leaving him well positioned to join his father and grandfather’s business in 1978. Later, his younger brother, Adolf, joined him.
As the focus of the company shifted from herbal raw materials to medicinal tea formulations and standardized extractions, Wedel stayed innovative throughout the changing demands in supply. He helmed the purchasing and procurement department as it sought new supply regions and markets, and diversified its growing range of products to meet the needs of clients. Under his leadership, the Plantextrakt subsidiary developed the company’s first line of plant extracts in 1980, followed by phytopharmaceutical extracts in 1989. The Martin Bauer Group processes tens of thousands of tons of raw materials from more than 50 countries, but some of that production occurs near its headquarters in Vestenbergsgreuth. Wedel’s extracts divisions (which now include the Finzelberg company, a maker of phytomedicinal extracts) promote sustainability among their raw material suppliers, and they now represent a key success area for the company.
In addition to his dedication to his business, Wedel was deeply involved with his local community. He was the chairman of his father’s charity, the Hans Wedel Foundation, which promotes employment in Vestenbergsgreuth and the conservation of Christuskirche, the local Lutheran church, which was built in 1959. He also served as a member of the town council for more than 30 years. On Wedel’s 60th birthday, Mayor Helmut Lottes personally honored Wedel with a certificate of honorary citizenship. A press release from the Martin Bauer Group issued on April 16, 2014, noted that the community was “particularly appreciative of Martin Wedel’s humor, with which he could relax some difficult situations, and his uncomplicated way, [which] he has always maintained despite his position.”2 He was also an honorary member of the local soccer club, TSV Vestenbergsgreuth, which was founded by his father. Wedel earned recognition on a national stage, as well. In 2015, he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in honor of his long and successful career and his service to the community and botanical industry.
Wedel is survived by his wife Anita, sons Martin, Viktor, and Jochen, daughter Sofie, and brother Adolf, who still serves as managing director at the Martin Bauer Group.
—Hannah Bauman
References
1. Following a long and serious illness, Martin Wedel, successful entrepreneur and a recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, has died at the age of 62 [press release]. Vestenbergsgreuth, Germany: Martin Bauer Group; September 23, 2016.
2. Martin Wedel celebrating his 60th birthday and is an honorary citizen of Vestenbergsgreuth [press release]. Vestenbergsgreuth, Germany: Martin Bauer Group; April 16, 2014. [translated from German]
