Braga Fernão Castro
Departamento de Produtos Farmacêuticos, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Campus Pampulha, CEP 31.270-901, MG Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Rev Bras Farmacogn. 2021;31(5):505-518. doi: 10.1007/s43450-021-00181-2. Epub 2021 Sep 17.
Although Brazil gathers two fundamental features to occupy a leading position on the development of biodiversity-based medicines, the largest flora on earth and a broad tradition on the use of medicinal plants, the number of products derived from the national genetic heritage is so far modest, either as single drugs or as herbal medicines. This article highlights some aspects that may have contributed to the low rates of success and proposes new insights for innovation. We initially approach the use of medicinal plants in Brazil, molded by its ethnic diversity, and the development of the local pharmaceutical industry. A discussion of some governmental initiatives to support plant-based drug development is then presented. Employing the economic concept of "middle-income trap," we further propose that Brazil is stuck in a "middle-level science trap," since the increase in the number of scientific publications that launched the country to an intermediate publishing position has not been translated into drug development. Two new approaches to escape from this trap are presented, which may result in innovative drug development. The first is based on the exploitation of the antifragility properties of herbal products aiming to investigate non-canonical pharmacodynamics mechanisms of action, aligned with the concepts of system biology. The second is the manufacture of herbal products based on the circular economy principles, including the use of byproducts for the development of new therapeutical agents. The adoption of these strategies may result in innovative phytomedicines, with global competitiveness.
尽管巴西具备在基于生物多样性的药物开发领域占据领先地位的两个基本特征，即拥有地球上最丰富的植物群以及广泛使用药用植物的传统，但到目前为止，源自该国遗传资源的产品数量，无论是单一药物还是草药，都相当有限。本文着重介绍了一些可能导致成功率较低的因素，并提出了创新的新思路。我们首先探讨巴西药用植物的使用情况，它受到巴西种族多样性的影响，同时还涉及当地制药行业的发展。随后讨论了一些政府支持植物药开发的举措。运用“中等收入陷阱”这一经济概念，我们进一步提出巴西陷入了“中等科学水平陷阱”，因为该国虽因科学出版物数量增加而进入中等出版水平行列，但这并未转化为药物开发成果。本文提出了两种摆脱这一陷阱的新方法，有望带来创新药物研发。第一种方法基于利用草药产品的抗脆弱特性，旨在研究非传统的药效学作用机制，这与系统生物学概念相符。第二种方法是依据循环经济原则制造草药产品，包括利用副产品开发新的治疗药物。采用这些策略可能会产生具有全球竞争力的创新植物药。
