Alliance to Develop Products from Rainforest Plants

An alliance formed for the development of therapies and other products based on plants from the Peruvian rainforest has been announced by Unigen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Broomfield, CO, USA) and Inca Health (Lima, Peru).

Unigen and Inca Health will work closely together with indigenous tribes to collect native plants from the Peruvian Rainforest and Andes Mountains that have a history of ethnomedicinal use in order to identify lead compounds for the development of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, cosmeceutical, and functional food products. Applying natural product chemistry and high throughput screening, Unigen will fractionate the Peruvian plant extracts for further laboratory testing in appropriate biologic, biochemical, genomic, and proteomic models.

"The Peruvian rainforest--the richest biological incubator on the planet supporting millions of plant, animal, and insect species--has long been considered a crucial link between humans and nature,” said Dr Qi Jia, vice president of scientific affairs at Unigen.

Adrian Poblete Espinosa, president of Inca Health, added, "Many secrets and untold botanical treasures await to be discovered in our rainforests and mountains--plants that are rich in beneficial nutrients, phytochemicals, and active constituents.”

The two companies are operating in full compliance with the United Nations Convention of Biodiversity, with a commitment to promoting conservation and sustainable use of tropical medicinal plants native to Peru, and providing technology transfer, benefit sharing, and recognition of the value of traditional knowledge to the source country, as well as supporting economic development of local communities.



Related Links:
Unigen Pharma
Inca Health