Page 263 - The Guide To Sarawak

THE GUIDE TO SARAWAK
261
MEDICINAL PLANTS
Sarawak’s forests have long provided its indigenous people with natural medicines. However nowadays international researchers and pharmaceutical companies are looking at rainforests as sources for new drugs and treatments. For example, silvestrol, a flavinoid compound from the Aglaia foveolata tree native to Sarawak’s highlands, could offer a new treatment
for leukaemia. Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) researchers found that silvestrol offered benefits not found in other cancer- treatment drugs, and pre-clinical trials have so far shown positive results.
The Sarawak Government is also collaborating with the US-based Seattle HIV Vaccine Trials Unit to research and develop an HIV vaccine based on the sap of the bintangor tree, and has identified a site in Bau for a bintangor tree
plantation. Clinical trials are expected to begin soon.
The unremarkable appearance of the bintangor tree (Calophyllum sp.) gives little clue to its potential as a treatment for AIDS.
The fruits of the Aglaia foveolata tree contain silvestrol, a flavinoid compound being investigated as a treatment for leukaemia.