Biopiracy versus One-World Medicine-From colonial relicts to global collaborative concepts.

Phytomedicine. 2018 Jun 11. pii: S0944-7113(18)30190-9. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2018.06.007. [Epub ahead of print] Efferth T1, Banerjee M2, Abu-Darwish MS3, Abdelfatah S4, Böckers M4, Bhakta-Guha D5, Bolzani V6, Daak S7, Demirezer ÖL8, Dawood M4, Efferth M4, El-Seedi HR9, Fischer N4, Greten HJ10, Hamdoun S4, Hong C4, Horneber M11, Kadioglu O4, Khalid HE12, Khalid SA13, Kuete V14, Mahmoud N4, Marin J15, Mbaveng A14, Midiwo J16, Nakagawa H17, Naß J4, Ngassapa O18, Ochwang'i D19, Omosa LK16, Ooko EA4, Özenver N20, Poornima P21, Romero MR15, Saeed MEM4, Salgueiro L22, Seo EJ4, Yan G4, Yasin Z23, Saeed EM24, Paul NW25. Author information 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany. Electronic address: efferth@uni-mainz.de. 2 Department of English and Linguistics, American Studies, Center for Comparative Native and Indigenous Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. 3 Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany; Shoubak University College, Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan. 4 Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany. 5 School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA University, Thanjavur 613401, TN, India. 6 Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, São Paulo State University, Araraquara, Brazil. 7 Dr. Salah Wanesi Foundation for Cancer Research and Control, Khartoum, Sudan. 8 Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy, Ankara, Turkey. 9 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Uppsala University, Biomedical Center, Uppsala, Sweden. 10 Biomedical Sciences Institute Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Heidelberg School of Chinese Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany. 11 Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Oncology and Hematology, Paracelsus Medical University, Klinikum Nürnberg, Germany. 12 Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan. 13 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Science and Technology, Omdurman, Sudan; Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Khartoum, Karthoum, Sudan. 14 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon. 15 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Experimental Hepatology and Drug Targeting (HEVEFARM), CIBERehd, IBSAL, University of Salamanca Campus Miguel de Unamuno, 37007 Salamanca, Spain. 16 Department of Chemistry, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. 17 Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chubu University, Kasugai, Aichi, Japan. 18 Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. 19 Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. 20 Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany; Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy, Ankara, Turkey. 21 Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Laboratory, School of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of Abertay, Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom. 22 Center of Neurosciences and Cell Biology and Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal. 23 Tayba Cancer Center, Khartoum, Sudan. 24 Federal Government of Sudan, Khartoum, Sudan. 25 Institute for the History, Philosophy, and Ethics of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany. Abstract BACKGROUND: Practices of biopiracy to use genetic resources and indigenous knowledge by Western companies without benefit-sharing of those, who generated the traditional knowledge, can be understood as form of neocolonialism. HYPOTHESIS: The One-World Medicine concept attempts to merge the best of traditional medicine from developing countries and conventional Western medicine for the sake of patients around the globe. STUDY DESIGN: Based on literature searches in several databases, a concept paper has been written. Legislative initiatives of the United Nations culminated in the Nagoya protocol aim to protect traditional knowledge and regulate benefit-sharing with indigenous communities. The European community adopted the Nagoya protocol, and the corresponding regulations will be implemented into national legislation among the member states. Despite pleasing progress, infrastructural problems of the health care systems in developing countries still remain. Current approaches to secure primary health care offer only fragmentary solutions at best. Conventional medicine from industrialized countries cannot be afforded by the impoverished population in the Third World. Confronted with exploding costs, even health systems in Western countries are endangered to burst. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is popular among the general public in industrialized countries, although the efficacy is not sufficiently proven according to the standards of evidence-based medicine. CAM is often available without prescription as over-the-counter products with non-calculated risks concerning erroneous self-medication and safety/toxicity issues. The concept of integrative medicine attempts to combine holistic CAM approaches with evidence-based principles of conventional medicine. CONCLUSION: To realize the concept of One-World Medicine, a number of standards have to be set to assure safety, efficacy and applicability of traditional medicine, e.g. sustainable production and quality control of herbal products, performance of placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trials, phytovigilance, as well as education of health professionals and patients. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. KEYWORDS: Complementary and alternative medicine; Evidence-based medicine; Integrative medicine; Nagoya protocol; Quality control; Traditional medicine PMID: 30190231 DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2018.06.007