The Prince Edward Island BioAlliance says that last week’s award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine underscores the value of continued research into natural products for use in human and animal health products. The three Nobel-winning scientists shared the award for their work on compounds isolated from plants and soil microbes.
The BioAlliance says the announcement was welcome news to P.E.I. bioscience companies, which are focused on natural product chemistry and its wide-ranging applicability in human and animal health.
Rory Francis, executive director of the P.E.I. BioAlliance, says these products often face scepticism — stemming from a long history of pseudoscience and “snake oil” products that lack scientific rigour in claims about treating or curing a wide range of ailments.
Francis says that in P.E.I., research with a focus on products derived from nature and their diverse chemical properties is fuelling the local economy, generating more than $150 million in sales and employing more than 1300 people.
The P.E.I. Bioscience Cluster is home to over 40 companies engaged in research, development and commercialization of health and nutrition products for humans and animals.
Many of these companies focus on the chemistry of natural compounds derived from locally grown and harvested resources, including aquatic plants and microbes harvested from the waters surrounding the Island.
“Plants are the source of many powerful active ingredients,” says Dr. Joseph Gabriele, chief executive fficer at Delivra, which makes pain relief products. “Rutin, a compound found in buckwheat and other plants, has anti-inflammatory activity and provides pain relief. We combine it with other pain-relieving plant extracts such as capsaicin, which comes from chili peppers, and birch bark extract.”
Nautilus Biosciences, another P.E.I. bioscience company, is focused on the development of natural products derived from marine organisms.
“One of our current projects involves screening marine microbe extracts for compounds that act as UV protectants and anti-oxidant compounds,” said company founder Russ Kerr. “Extracts with these activities are of interest in the personal care product industry because they help protect the skin from various kinds of damage.”
The BioAlliance says the identification and characterization of naturally derived compounds require considerable time and effort, but the resulting benefits for humanity are worthwhile, as are the benefits for the P.E.I. economy.
