MONTEGO BAY, St James — Jamaican scientist Dr Henry Lowe, who has gained international recognition for his cancer research, brought further glory to the nation Monday by copping the Local Innovator Award presented by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) at its 19th Forum for Markets Innovation and Capital (FOROMIC) in Montego Bay.

The bank’s president, Luis Alberto Moreno, and Prime Minister Andrew Holness presented Dr Lowe with the award for his innovative use of the Jamaican Ball Moss, a plant in which he has found properties that have shown promise as potential treatment for cancers and as a neuroprotective agent for diseases such as Parkinson’s. Dr Lowe has also developed nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products from the plant.

Noting that he invested more than US$6.5 million in the project, Dr Lowe called on the Government and the IDB to fund research.

“We have at least five patents that have been issued, and another six coming out shortly in this work. So we are proud and happy. But guess what? No financial support,” the scientist lamented.

“I would think that if I put everything that I have to get there, then I think that my country, I think the IDB and others should be there to help me to get there,” he said and appealed to the IDB to consider the establishment of a Science and Technology Innovation Fund.

“The entrepreneurship, as it stands here, needs some collaborative push between the commercial banks, the IDB and its agencies and the individual development banks in each country. And I am proposing here that… what I am doing, and others like me are doing in science and technology… we need to have a Science and Innovation Fund, and Mr president, I am asking you to consider it,” Dr Lowe said to Moreno.

Dr Lowe, who is the founder and head of Bio-Tech R&D Institute, informed Monday’s gathering that since his boyhood days he had a hunch about the Ball Moss, which grows wildly on electrical power lines and citrus trees.

He eventually took the plant, widely regarded “at best as an epiphyte and nuisance and converted it into a potential source of major wealth creation through health care products, agri-based products and a tourism product”.

“This innovation is like a fairy tale; it started from I was a boy. I used to see this little plant growing on electrical wires and wondered how it could stay there and survive,” he explained to his captive audience.

“And it took a long time… after I had completed my master’s I decided to take a look at it, and I found in those early days that it had great potential as an anti-cancer agent. I took it around to various jobs with me until I started back in 2006 because I was convinced that this particular plant holds great hope for the future, especially for cancer research,” he said.

The eminent researcher, who hailed his scientist colleagues who work along with him on the project, also expressed gratitude for being recognised for his work.

“I am greatly humbled and honoured to be receiving the Local Innovator’s Award at this year’s staging of FOROMIC in Jamaica. I would first like to offer my sincerest gratitude to the MIF (Multilateral Investment Fund), IADB, and the local entities such as the Ministry of Finance, the Development Bank of Jamaica and the Scientific Research Council for the rigorous evaluation and ultimate recommendation for this major award,” Dr Lowe remarked.

“I want to make an appeal to the IDB and its sister organisations. The first thing I would like to say is that many countries in the region have got intellectual property recognised as an asset-right. Here in Jamaica, we do too, but you cannot take that patent, which is an IP, to anybody: they don’t recognise it. It’s on your balance sheet because it’s recognised by Pricewaterhouse, but I can’t use it,” he bemoaned.

“My last two patents I have valued now at US$25.5 million, and I can’t take it into any bank. It means something has got to be wrong with the system,” Dr Lowe said.

Last year, Dr Lowe established a commercial venture in the United States where his team of researchers will conduct further work on Jamaican indigenous plants to develop new pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products.

The company, called Education and Scientific, LLC, is based in Baltimore, Maryland.

It will work with the University of Maryland school of Medicine and its Ventures programme, which helps the institution’s faculty and students bring scientific discoveries to market by providing consulting and business services.

The development was announced by the University of Maryland School of Medicine last year August on its website in a news release that also highlighted the ongoing anti-cancer research being carried out by Dr Lowe and his research partner, Dr Joseph Bryant, using the Jamaican Ball Moss.

“This is very important to the Ball Moss research as well as the lesson that science is not only about research, but how research and innovation can lead to wealth creation,” Dr Lowe told the

Jamaica Observer at the time.

“This could lead to billions of dollars in revenue. The stage has been set for this through patent ownership and the strong backing of the university for commercialisation,” he added.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute of Human Virology, where Dr Bryant is based, has been at the forefront of research into the treatment and prevention of diseases such as chronic viral infections and cancers since it was formed in 1996.