Searching for New Medicines

Over time ,new diseases develop that cannot be cured with the medicines we have.Also many medicines that once cured common diseases sometimes lose their power to cure.For these reasons,modern drug companies are constantly looking for new mecidines to help doctors cure both new and common diseases.One place that drug companies are looking is in the rainforests of the world.Scientists believe that new plants from the rainforests or simple medicines from rainforest peoples might be sources for future miracle drugs.
 Four hundred years ago,such a miracle drug was found to cure malaria.In 1633,a fortunate event occured.A Spanish priest was sent as a missionary to Peru. He wanted to minister to the native Indians there.While he was teaching,however,he learned something.The village healer-the only medical practitioner the people had ever known-was making a powder from the bark of cinchona tree.He used this powder to cure malaria.The priest brought some of this miracle powder home to Europe,where malaria was a serious disease at the time.Europeans began using the bark to cure malaria.Soon Europeans implemented overseas searches for sources of the tree bark.After many years,scientists identified the ingredient in the tree bark that cured malaria.It was quinine.By 1827,quinine was commercially produced and became the primary treatment for malaria throughout the world.By the 1960s,however,quinine’s abilitity to kill malaria parasite had declined because the parasite was becoming resistant to it.
 About this time,another fotunate event occured.Scientist in China were digging up ancient cities.One city was a place where people had resided 2,000 years earlier.The scientists discovered that the ancient people had used a plant,called wormwood,to cure fevers.Scientists collected living samples of the plant to test.They found that wormwood contained artemisinin.This chemical killed malaria parasites.Today,artemisinin is used in various mixtures with other drugs(Artemisinin Combination Theraphy,or ACT) to treat people who have malaria.
 Aspirin is another ancient medicine.Its history dates back over 2,000 years,when ancient Greek physicians made a tea from willow bark to ease pain and lower fever.People continued to use willow bark as a home remedy for centuries.Modern scientists identified salicylic acid as the special ingredient in the bark that eased pain and fever.Soon,drug companies were making asprin tablets containing salicylic acid.Today,asprin is one of the most widely used drugs in the world.Around 100 billion asprin tablets are produced each year.
 Not all medical histories are centuries old.The story of taxol is an example of how miracle drugs are still being found in the world’s forests.In 1966,scientists discovered a powerful chemical in the bark of the Pacific yew tree.This chemical could stop cell growth.They believed it would be useful in treating the unnatural cell growth of cancer.Soon,taxol was being used in intensive treatments for certain kinds of cancer.
 Scientists think that many medicines may still be hidden in the rainforets of the world.As a result,over 100 companies that manufacture drugs are searching for new forest plants and testing them for possible medical use.
 Unfortunately,access to these rainforest plants is rapidly disappearing.Logging companies are cutting down the rainforest trees and selling the wood.Commercial developers are laboring hard to clear the land for houses,farms,towns and roads.Clearly,the priorities of the scientists conflict with the priorities of the bussiness people.The scientists want time to find plants that might cure diseases.The bussiness people want to make money from the plants that grow there.
 Experts believe that about 50,000 species of plants, animals and insects disappear every year because rainforests are being destroyed.Scientists fear that when rainforests species disappear, many possible cures for disease will disappear with them.They also fear that when rainforests disappear, the villages of people who reside there will also disappear.When the people leave,their healers also leave.These practitioners are only individuals who know the secrets of healing sick people with forest plants.
 In fact,most modern drugs made from plants came from simple cures that village healers created from nearby plants.As a result,modern drug companies are sending scientists,accompanied by local translators,to work cooperatively with these healers to learn their secrets before those secrets are lost forever.Drug companies are also sending teams of workers into the rainforests to gather plants to test.If company scientists find a useful cure in plant they test,they will identify the chemicals in the plant.Then,the company can manufacture a medicine that is chemically identical.
 Before rainforests disappear completely,scientists want to gather as many medical secrets as possible.Soon,however,it may be too late to learn the rainforest’s secrets.