Narkya and the plunder of biodiversity

Dilution of biological conservation rules and lax enforcement of forest laws are giving free rein to the drug industry and trade

- LATHA JISHNU

THE HEADLINES were arresting. “Improbable that company bought stolen forest item; cases quashed,” said a leading newspaper in Mumbai. “Cancer drug camptothecin not forest produce—Bombay High Court quashes cases against pharma company after 16 years,” proclaimed a well-known legal website in early January. Other publications had similar reports exonerating Fresenius Kabi Oncology, the Indian offshoot of German multinational Fresenius Kabi, of any wrongdoing in the purchase of camptothecin, which is used to make cancer drugs. The case is actually 18 years old—it was initiated in 2005—and illustrates why India’s rich biodiversity is depleting ever faster.

This story starts with a moderate-sized tree, Mappia foetida, known locally known as narkya or amruta, which is found in the Western Ghats. It grows to a height of 4-10 metres and is characterised by a fetid smell. Once, it was found abundantly, but today, narkya is a threatened species because it is an important medicinal plant, much in demand for its anti-cancer properties. The alkaloid camptothecin (CPT), extracted from the wood chips of the trees, is an essential component of chemotherapy and narkya is said to be the most promising source for large-scale production of cpt.