Ancient Tribal Remedy Could Be Next Big Drug to Fight Obesity

By Matthew McGarry

Part II
 

Promised a Cut in Hoodia Profits

A tribe of hunter-gatherers whose 20,000-year-old culture was recently close to extinction, the San people could now have found the ultimate survival weapon in their reliance on hoodia. Pfizer has promised them a cut of the royalties.

But the chance to share in the proceeds of a revolutionary new diet drug didn't come without a fight.

Roger Chennells, a lawyer who in 1999 helped the San win back a large portion of their ancestral homelands in South Africa, decided to challenge the drug firms and the South African research institute that originally took out the hoodia patent in 1996.

After a prolonged battle an agreement was finally reached earlier this year. "There was a certain amount of mistrust because it was a significant amount of money and each side had a lot to lose," said Chennells. "But after a fight, both parties were satisfied."

Now the San will help to cultivate the plant and should the drug come to market, their impoverished community of an estimated 100,000 people scattered across the Kalahari Desert stands to gain millions of dollars annually, plus jobs and scholarships.

Dreams of Riches

But first the drug must be proven to work and then it must be declared safe to use by government medical boards.

Crawhall said the mood is one of anxious anticipation. "There are lots of promises, and lots of excitement, but people have seen promises before and they don't always deliver, so there's also a bit of caution," he said. "People can't help but wondering if this is really going to happen or not."

In the meantime, the needy San people continue to hang on to life in the harsh and unforgiving Kalahari Desert, comforted by dreams of future riches and how they will spend all that money form Hoodia.