Global Health Biotech: bridging the gap between science and business

• Author: Catherine Jewell
• Position: Information and Digital Outreach Division, WIPO

Professor Motaung's passion for biomedical research and its commercialization has won her many top awards in South Africa for bridging the gap between science and entrepreneurship. In 2020, for example, she was awarded the Shining Light Award for Science and Technology from the Motsepe Foundation. And in 2018, she won the Research for Innovation Award of the National Science and Technology Forum and also was voted Most Innovative Woman of the Year at the Gauteng Women of Excellence Awards. Professor Motaung discusses why it is so important to help ensure that university research translates into products and services that build new businesses and create employment.

What prompted you to start researching plant-based remedies to treat musculoskeletal injuries?

I have always had an interest in science and the musculoskeletal system and was curious to see how the medicinal plants that make up South Africa's rich floral heritage could be used to heal musculoskeletal inflammation and injuries. In 2010, my mother was diagnosed with osteoarthritis (OA), also known as degenerative arthritis. It's a common condition that affects millions of people around the world and occurs most commonly in the knees, hips, lower back, the neck, small joints of the fingers and the base of the thumb. In my mother’s case, it was in her knees. Joint replacement (arthroplasty) is the recommended treatment for late-stage OA, but because the waiting lists for such operations in South African government hospitals are long, patients often have to live with chronic pain for years. My mother had to wait for four years before getting an appointment for knee surgery. By then, her condition had deteriorated so much that surgery was no longer an option. So, I wanted to find a way to alleviate the suffering that patients with OA have to endure.

And what prompted you to set up Global Health Biotech?

La-Africa Soother, a plant-based anti-inflammatory

topical ointment that relieves muscle aches and joint

pain. Global Health Biotech’s top-selling product.

(Photo: Courtesy of Global Health Biotech)

I had always dreamed of translating my research into a commercial asset. Setting up Global Health Biotech was an opportunity to do that. My own scientific research convinced me that medicinal plants could be used to engineer and regenerate bone tissue and cartilage. During my research I worked very closely with Dr. Johannah Mpilu, a traditional healer, and two doctoral students, who have since qualified, Dr. Makwese Maepa and Dr. Mapula Razwinani, and together we set up the company and developed our natural anti-inflammatory ointment, La-Africa Soother .

Two key factors drove me to set up the company. First, I wanted to demonstrate that it is possible to turn scientific ideas into commercial assets...