Out of Peru, the plant that tackles toothache - Convention on

Out of Peru, the plant that tackles toothache - Convention on the world may soon benefit from a plant long-used by indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon for toothaches, eliminating the need for local injections in some cases. Researchers have created a medicinal gel from a plant known commonly as spilanthes extract (Acmella Oleracea), which could become a fully natural alternative to current anesthetics and may even have a wide-range of applications beyond dental care. "We could be looking at the end of some injections in the dentist’s surgery. We've had really clear result from the tests so far, particularly for peridodontological procedures such as root scaling and planing, and there are many other potential applications. The native forest people described to me exactly how the medicine could and should work and they were absolutely right," Cambridge University anthropologist, Françoise Barbira Freedman, said in a press release. Freedman was the first westerner to live with the Keshwa Lamas indigenous tribe in Peru; they introduced her to the power of spilanthes extract, which is grown ornamentally around the world but native to the Amazon. In 1975 one of the tribe alleviated pain in Freedman's wisdom teeth by having her bite into the plant. "During the time I have spent with the Keshwa Lamas I’ve learnt all about the different plants and leaves they use for everyday illnesses and ailments. I first went to Peru as a young researcher hoping to learn more about what was a secretive community who were experts in shamanism. Along the way I’ve learnt a great deal about natural medicines and remedies; everything from toothache to childbirth," Freedman says. Freedman has now founded pharmaceutical company Ampika Ltd., which is linked to Cambridge University's commercial arm. A portion of proceeds from the company will also be shared among the Keshwa Lamas people, who Freedman still visits. Beyond dental operations, the gel may also alleviate infant pain during teething. "There are a range of mucous tissue applications it could benefit, and may even help bowel complaints such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)," says Freedman. The medicinal gel is currently in trials, but Freedman says she expects it to be on the market by 2014 or 2015. Although the world's tropical rainforests are under assault by logging, agriculture, monocultures, cattle, and fossil fuel industries, scientists believe the forests contain an untapped medicine cabinet that could provides cures for many of the world's ailments. Currently less than 5 percent of the world's tropical forest plants and less than 0.1 percent of its animals have been tested for medicinal properties. Read more: hance_acmellaoleracea.html#ixzz1pHvMDVH7 Rainforest remedy could spell end of dental pain An ancient Incan toothache remedy – for centuries handed down among an indigenous people in the rainforests of Peru – could be on the cusp of revolutionising worldwide dental practice. During the time I have spent with the Keshwa Lamas I’ve learnt all about the different plants and leaves they use for everyday illnesses and ailments." —Dr Françoise Barbira Freedman The remedy, made from an Amazonian plant species from varieties of Acmella Oleracea and turned into a gel for medical use, has proved hugely successful during the first two phases of clinical trials and may hasten the end of current reliance on local anaesthetics in dental use and Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) in specific applications. Cambridge University anthropologist Dr Françoise Barbira Freedman, the first westerner to be invited to live with the Keshwa Lamas in Amazonian Peru, is leading efforts to bring this wholly natural painkiller to the global marketplace as an organic alternative to synthetic painkillers. In doing so, the company she founded, Ampika Ltd (a spin-out from Cambridge Enterprise, the University’s commercialisation arm) will be run according to strict ethical guidelines, and will be able to channel a percentage of any future profits back to the Keshwa Lamas community who agreed to share their expertise with her. With no known side-effects during the past five years of Phase I and II trials, Dr Freedman, who has continued to visit and live among the Keshwa Lamas over the past 30 years, is confident the stringent Phase III trials (multi-location trials across a diverse population mix) will be the final hurdle to clear. If successful, Ampika’s plan is to bring the product to market in 2014/15. She said: “The story began in 1975 when I first went to live among the indigenous people of Peru. We were trekking through the rainforest and I was having terrible trouble with my wisdom teeth. One of the men with me noticed and prepared a little wad of plants to bite onto. The pain went away. When it came back a few hours later, he had foreseen the need and kept plant material in his hunters’ bag for me. “I forgot all about the wisdom teeth problem for many years until Cambridge-based neuroscientist Dr Mark Treherne asked me to bring some medicinal plant samples back in order to test them for neurological research. Almost as an afterthought I remembered to include the one I’d used on my teeth. It was added to the bottom of the list, but somehow the list got reversed and it was the first one tested back in the UK. It was immediately successful and we’ve never looked back. “During the time I have spent with the Keshwa Lamas I’ve learnt all about the different plants and leaves they use for everyday illnesses and ailments. I first went to Peru as a young researcher hoping to learn more about what was a secretive community who were experts in shamanism. Along the way I’ve learnt a great deal about natural medicines and remedies; everything from toothache to childbirth.” “This treatment for toothache means we could be looking at the end of some injections in the dentist’s surgery. We’ve had really clear result from the tests so far, particularly for peridodontological procedures such as root scaling and planing, and there are many other pop ptential applications. The native forest people described to me exactly how the medicine could and should work and they were absolutely right. There are a range of mucous tissue applications it could benefit, and may even help bowel complaints such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).” The Keshwa Lamas remedy represents the first clinical trial of a natural product in Peru using the International Convention of Clinical Trials, of which Peru is a signatory, the gold-standard for clinical trials that is recognised across the Pacific and Atlantic regions. Dr Freedman, who will visit the Peruvian community again in the coming weeks, has already been able to channel some early funding to the Keshwa Lama to help in the creation of a medicinal plant garden to conserve plants and plant knowledge related to women’s health and maternity care – with the express aim of preserving wisdom for future generations. She added: “We think the remedy is better than current treatments because NSAID drugs are systemic and have long-term effects; the plant product is not systemic and does not have any known side-effects. We think people prefer to use natural products and this is particularly the case for baby teething – for which, to my knowledge, there is no clinically tested natural alternative.” The dentists who carried out the Phase 2 trial reported a high level of satisfaction among their patients who disliked injections and did not need to use painkillers after the periodontological procedures. There was also a higher rate of patient return for further appointments than average for the group with which the plant gel was used. The gel works by blocking nerve endings (sodium channel pathways). Ampika has a portfolio of plant-based drug development, particularly related to women’s health conditions and Type 2 diabetes, which it hopes to develop in the coming years. Company website: Out of Peru, the plant that tackles toothache After having her painful molars treated by Amazonian villagers, anthropologist Françoise Barbira Freedman is bringing their painkilling plant to the masses What took you to the Quechua Lamas community in remote Amazonian Peru? I was fascinated to learn about the highland people who live in the forests at altitudes between 200 and 800 metres, where there is great medicinal flora diversity. The Chachapoyas people who used to live here traded their medicinal and psychotropic plants, resins and colourful feathers with Incas. I was interested in learning about the forest people now living here, who had preserved their dynamic culture and plant knowledge - in a secret, underground way - despite several centuries of contact with the modern world. It had never been studied before. Why did the secretive tribe accept you when they had turned away other anthropologists? I went there in 1974 when I was a young-looking 22-year-old, and I think they just thought of me as a girl, like their own girls, rather than a woman. I was adopted by a clan and lived with them for two years initially, learning their dialect of Amazonian Quechua language. Over the past 30 years I have been back several times to live with them and now I'm a member of the council of elders. When I was pregnant, I was introduced to the whole range of hidden medicinal plant culture that they practise. I tapped into it almost inadvertently. The clan saved my life more than once with their medicinal plants. See gallery: "The beneficent botany in nature's medicine chest" Tell me about the "toothache plant", Acmella oleracea It's a leafy weed with yellow flowers that grows on disturbed soil. It's indigenous to this part of Peru, and the flower bud and other parts have been used as a toothache cure for hundreds of years. How did you come to develop it as a drug for the mass market? When I was living with the clan, I suffered terribly with my wisdom teeth, and so one of the villagers gave me a wad of the toothache plant to bite on. It was very effective at numbing the pain, lasting for an hour before I needed a fresh wad. I brought the plant back to the University of Cambridge in 2004, with other medicinal herbs, for a neuropharmacologist colleague who was interested in testing Amazonian plants. This is the first he has tested, and it has performed well as a local anaesthetic in two phases of clinical trials. Will the Quechua Lamas see any benefit from the new drug if it comes to market as planned in 2014? We spent two years working with lawyers to design a contract - learning from the best aspects of other pharmaceutical companies - to ensure that the Amazonian people benefit from a percentage of any profits with conservation and education initiatives. We are distributing the money through trusted, long-term local NGOs. So far we have created a beautiful medicine garden to conserve plants used for women's health. We also want to build a training centre to teach the community the medicine and remedy-making skills I learned, but which the new generation has lost.