Pharmaceutical Open Source Research

The project “Managing dry land natural gum and aromatic resin production to integrate pastoralists' sustainable economic benefits with desertification control and biodiversity conservation ”, finalized in 2008 with the establishment of several aromatic resins processing and selling cooperatives, is nowadays revealing new opportunities for local communities. Thanks to the scientific studies directed by InfarmaZone Association from Perugia, some researches, assigned to several Italian Universities laboratories, are now in progress in order to evaluate therapeutic properties of Agarsu balsam (Commiphora erythraea) essential oil, an aromatic resin growing in the Horn of Africa arid brush. Each laboratory involved is working on part of the research, publishing the results obtained step by step on open source journals, in order to protect local communities from possible natural resources exploitation by unscrupulous pharmaceutical industries. Tests have been carried out on several viral strains, bacteria and fungi. From the first analyses, the Agarsu essential oil has resulted to be an effective inhibitor of plant pathogen fungi growth. Moreover, it results to be very effective against flu virus, with potential properties to be tested on H1N1. .

Such discoveries confirm South Ethiopian nomad pastoralists’ wisdom, whom since centuries know Agarsu properties in the treatment of some pathologies, especially in veterinary field. In fact the resin is used on camels to prevent ticks infestation. In the future the research on new medicinal plants, could be translated in phytotherapeutic support for local communities, in line with IPO work in Ethiopia, aimed at increasing local opportunities strengthening health care through natural resources endemic of the country.