The San people of South Africa’s Kalahari desert have come to an agreement with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of South Africa on royalty payments for a new diet drug. The drug is being developed from appetite suppressing molecules in the Hoodia cactus, which the San have been using for centuries to suppress hunger and thirst on long hunting trips in the Kalahari. Under the unprecedented agreement, six to eight percent of payments by Phytopharm, the licensee developing the drug, will go into a trust administered by regional San Councils, CSIR, the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa, and a government observer. The San hope to use the funds to create much-needed jobs and education programs in their communities.
