FEATURE - Bio-prospectors seek treasure in Australia forests
Date: 05-Nov-02
Country: AUSTRALIA
Author: Michael Byrnes
"Australia remains the last continent to be discovered in biodiversity," says Selwyn Snell, chief executive officer of Australian science group BioProspect Ltd.
"It has so many unique and even unregistered and unnamed biological species that it's just remarkable. And we're out there hunting for them."
Like the gold rush of 150 years ago that lured thousands of hopeful treasure seekers, "bio-prospectors" and global drug giants have staked claims to areas of forest hoping to tap jungles that harbour diverse and unique plantlife.
The jungles beckon with the promise of a world-beating find worth a fortune - a cure for cancer, HIV or Alzheimers, or a chemically unique antibiotic to knock out super bugs like Golden Staph which haunt hospitals around the world.
The yield so far from Australia's northern rainforests, mainly in Queensland and Western Australia, is several new compounds for antibiotics, new pesticides which are close to commercial production and a pill that could prevent prostate cancer.
Scientists caution that it takes 15 years and a huge investment to bring a new pharmaceutical to market, and only one in 1,000 discoveries make it.
Agri-chemicals and dietary products are quicker to market, and even they offer pay-dirt worth hundreds of millions.
Bio-prospectors range from scientists with licence claims, through to large numbers of "illegal" hopefuls.
VENTURE CAPITAL
Big groups in the hunt include London-based AstraZenica, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, and Melbourne-based Amrad Corp Ltd through its Cerylid Biosciences unit, with links to international giants including Franco-German Aventis and Glaxo SmithKline.
The listed BioProspect has recently been joined in the hunt by smaller compatriot EcoBiotics Ltd, which aims to float on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2004.
"In the past it was well nigh impossible to get venture capital for biotech and drug discovery in Australia," said Stephen Trowell, chief executive of Entocosm Pty Ltd, a spin-off from the government-backed Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). "That's starting to change."
Like prospecting claims, access to rainforests is the must-have asset for bioprospectors, especially those who want to raise money from stock exchange listings.
Cairns-based EcoBiotics, now raising A$3 million (US$1.7 million) in working capital, has exclusive access to large tracts of Queensland state rainforest through the Australian Rainforest Foundation and private holders.
It is also negotiating for access to Queensland rainforest under state control and has exclusive access to 170,000 hectares (425,000 acres) of some of the last rainforest in the Solomon Islands to Australia's north.
"(But) there's a lot out there without licences," says BioProspect's Snell. "They're going to come to a foul end. If you don't have a licence showing ownership of a compound, you're in deep doo-doo."
Multinational companies will not deal with unlicensed groups.
BioProspect already holds agreements with the Queensland government for access to plants, soil, insects, marine organisms and animals in state-owned areas, as well as a collection licence for Western Australia.
This does not give it a monopoly over particular plants, but is the first step to eventual patents on chemical discoveries in plants. The plants found to yield valuable chemicals are the most closely guarded secrets of Australia's bioprospectors and are the lucrative intellectual property of the forest hunters.
NEW PRODUCTS
"We have a very unique rainforest (with) the largest percentage of ancient plant families," EcoBiotics managing director Victoria Gordon says.
"The Queensland tropical rainforest is unique because of the very old geology of the area (producing) a mozaic of forest types. We have 15 different forest types here (while) in general the Amazon Basin has about five different forest types."
Australian rainfo
