12/29/01 -- The biotech race in the Amazon, a new El Dorado

The biotech race in the Amazon, a new El Dorado

MANAUS, Brazil - People travel thousands of kilometers to the city of Manaus in the heart of the Amazon rainforest to find natural remedies said to be effective for treating diseases like AIDs and cancer.

'I have customers who come very often to buy my herbs to treat their loved ones,' says Adelaide Tanaka, who owns a small herb shop at the Mercado Central located in the biggest city in the Amazon region.

The Mercado Central is a labyrinth of small shops where one can anything from herbs, roots and natural scents to a variety of animal organs and handicrafts.

The mere sight of Tanaka's curious pharmacy could make a medical doctor' skin crawl, but her clients do not seem to care because she is often their last resort. Indians in remote areas of the rainforest collect her products. 'Some forty people come to my shop every day because they know these products are a powerful help to cure their maladies,' Tanaka said. Her business has become a kind of tourist attraction in the thriving city.

Her surname comes from her husband, the son of a Japanese national who joined the wave of immigration to Brazil in the early 1900s.

Unha de Gato, or Cats Claw, is her hottest selling product. It comes from a tropical plant that native say is effective in boosting the immune system and fighting infections.

'A woman from Sao Paulo has recently told us this product has cured her father from a liver cancer,' one of her assistants said.

Tanaka rattles off some of her other natural remedies -- Quebra Pedra, or Stone Breaker, is good for bladder troubles. Copaiba, or Jesuit's Balsam, can cure infections and Catuaba is a powerful aphrodisiac.

Tanaka also sells animal-based remedies like turtle oil, effective for eliminating wrinkles, and oil extracted from the poisonous tropical snake, surucucu, which is said to be good for healing wounds.

'The Indians leave the forest at least twice a month to bring us herbs, leaves and roots, besides other items like manatee fat,' Tanaka said, referring to the fish, which also happens to be an endangered species.

The herbs Tanaka trades will soon leave the shops of the Mercado Central and become research material for Brazilian and foreign scientists working on a project to exploit the rich biodiversity of the Amazon.

The Brazilian plans have triggered a high-tech biotechnology race in Manaus, chiefly centered on the construction of the Amazon Biotechnological Center.

Starting in 2002 the center will house 20 laboratories and the Brazilian government hopes it will lead to the discovery of profitable pharmacological drugs.

The administration of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso expects the program to lure billions of dollars in investment.

Cardoso has said the use of biotechnology to exploit the natural resources of the Amazon rainforest is a strategic priority for the country's technological progress.

'This large-scale program to explore the Amazon resources through biotechnology is a modern version of the El Dorado legend,' says U.S. biologist Charles Clement who works for the Environment Ministry.

The El Dorado -- or The Golden One -- is an ancient legend from the the Amazon. Indians say their ancestors have spoken about a king whose kingdom had so much gold that he used to sprinkle his skin with gold dust every day.

The economic possibilities for biological research in the jungle are unlimited as the it holds more than one third of the world's biological resources. Amazon Indians already know how to use about 5,000 out of the 500,000 plant species that flourish in the lush rainforest.

'This is a historical moment,' says professor Spartaco Astolfi Filho, who will head a team of scientists working on cutting-edge biotech research.

The Brazilian government has invested 5 million dollars in the center to boost the domestic biotechnology sector. But Clement says Brazilian investments are next to nothing compared with the 1 billion dollars biotech giant Monsanto Co. is said to invest annually.

The vast opportunities in the Amazon are attracting companies and researchers from all over the world.

Crodamazon, the Brazilian branch of Great Britain's Croda International, has been operating in Sao Paulo since 1974, and keeps an office in Manaus.

'We are researching five different oils from tropical fruits. Our goal is to find out new applications to what is already in public domain,' Crodamazon's managing director, Miguel De Bellis, said.

Crodamazon has invested 1 million dollars in biotechnological research in the Amazon and will focus on Europe, North and South America and Asia to promote, store and commercialize the oils manufactured in the jungle.

The Amazon branch of the British enterprise is developing a joint research and development project with Croda Japan. The Japanese side is in charge of super-refining the oil extracted from cupuacu, a very popular fruit in the Amazon region.

'Biotechnology is now more than a tendency, it is a reality. It will play a very important role not only for Crodamazon, but also for humanity,' De Bellis has said.

The cosmetic and perfume sector is also taking off in Manaus, said the lawyer Fatima Chamma, who manages the Chamma da Amazonia, an enterprise which plans to spread its natural products around the globe.

'We are consolidating our participation in the domestic market with plans to export to Europe in the second half of 2002,' an enthusiastic Chamma says about her plans.

Her company currently markets some 300 items, of which 70% of are cosmetics and perfumes and 30% are jewelry manufactured exclusively with natural products.

'The spirits of the forest are on our side because for every 10 products we market, we plant another three in a jungle area we have purchased,' says Andre Pinheiro, who also has an equal share with Chamma in the firm.

The prosperous business has soared by 70% since 1998 and they have had partnership proposals from the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

As a proof that financial resources are not hard to find when it comes to biotechnological projects, Switzerland's Axial Bank has offered them a 500,000 dollar credit line for the development of new natural products.

There are around 1,700 research groups and 120 national biotech companies in Brazil that are growing more competitive by the day.

The superstar among the local bio-enterprises is Rio de Janeiro-based Extracta -- the first Brazilian company specializing in research and development of novel natural molecules for the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industry.

'We own the largest bank of natural extracts in the country,' Extracta chairman Antonio Paes de Carvalho, said.

The company has inked a $3.2 million contract with Glaxo SmithKline. 'This has been the first contract linking a big pharmaceutical corporation and a Latin American research company,' de Carvalho has said.

The Brazilian company also announced in October a screening agreement with Genzyme Corp. to research Brazilian flora to identify molecules that could be used to treat rare genetic diseases.

The Brazilian scientists the company employs are expected to spend at least six months researching thousands of natural extracts until they identify a molecule fit for Genzyme to patent in the U.S.

'Access to Extracta's diversified library of natural compounds is an important adjunct to combinatorial chemistry in our continued search for novel approaches to treatment of critical pathologies,' said Frederic Vinick, Genzyme's senior vice president for drug discovery.

Joao de Carvalho, Extracta's director for the business division, says the company's dream is to patent a new drug that could generate up to 10 billion dollars.

His eyes seemed to twinkle when he mentioned the dollar figure, suggesting he may be getting closer to El Dorado.

LOAD-DATE: December 29, 2001

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