Bintangor tree may yield treatment for HIV

NST: To the Ibans, it is known as the Chenaga. To the Bidayuhs, the Bituah or Entuah, the Kayans Mata-oh and the Berawans Churau.
To other Malaysians, it is simply the Bintangor tree (Barringtonia Asiatica) — and it may be the "Tree of Life".
According to tests carried out in the United States by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Bintangor tree — which grows in the swampy areas of Sarawak — may yield a treatment for HIV sufferers.
Clinical trials done in 1991 show that a drug called Calanolide A, extracted from the tree’s latex, reduces the levels of the AIDS virus in the blood.
Further tests showed the tree to yield another compound, Costatolide, which also exhibits positive reaction against HIV.
It started in 1986 when the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University in Massachusetts sought the permission of the Sarawak Government to collaborate with the Sarawak Research Division of the Forest Department on collection of Sarawak plants for phytochemical analyses to find new drugs for cancer and AIDS.
Permission was given in May the next year and collection of specimen started at the end of 1987.
Tests on samples of Bintangor tree gathered in the peat swamp forest near Batang Kayan, about 5km from the coastal town of Lundu, "exhibited positive activity against HIV".
The Bintangor tree to the layman may look like the rubber tree. It can grow to a height of about 30 feet, with a diameter of five inches and long waxy leaves.
The Ibans have for centuries known its medicinal properties.
The poultice made from the bark is used to ease headaches, treat skin rashes, rheumatism, diarrhoea and childbirth after care, while the poisonous latex that oozes from it can be used for stunning fish.
Little do they realise what vast potential riches the tree contains.
On June 21, 1994, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Sarawak State Government and the NCI to collaborate in the search for AIDS cure.
The MoU provides for the payments of royalties in the event of a drug being synthesised from the compound developed from the natural products.
The anti-HIV drug is several years away from being sold commercially, but if it is — and if it is as profitable as other anti-HIV drugs — it could earn as much as RM1.7 billion a year.
With such a potential, it is, therefore, no wonder that the Bintangor tree is now a protected species under the The Calophyllum Species (Prohibition of Felling and Restriction of Export) Order of the Sarawak Forest Ordinance.