This material was produced by the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ)
under contract to the Ministry of Education in 2000 and 2001. It was written
to assist teachers and schools in their delivery of the technology/ hangarau
curriculum statements. The project was jointly coordinated by personnel
from the Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ)
and National Association of Māori Mathematicians, Scientists and Technologists
(NAMMSAT) networks. Monitoring and evaluation of the material was carried
out by a national project advisory group.
The New Zealand manufacturers of a honey-based product targeting arthritis
sufferers, are faced with the task of obtaining clinically proven evidence
of its effectiveness before the product can be labelled and sold as a
medicine. This process is both time-consuming and costly, and illustrates
one of the major problems facing New Zealand companies trying to break
into the lucrative world wide market for health products.
The
news
A Nelson company is hoping that medical trials currently under way will
endorse the use of its Manuka honey and bee venom product as a pain relief
for arthritis.
The company has been selling the product as a dietary supplement and as
such it can only be marketed as a possible relief for arthritis rather
than a medically proven treatment. It is hoped that the clinical trial
which is being overseen by Health Waikato, and involves 100 arthritis
sufferers, will prove the effectiveness of the product.
Other similar products have been developed in New Zealand but , because
of the time and cost involved, none has yet gone through the clinical
trial process. However, even if the trial is successful, a Health Ministry
spokesperson emphasised that the company would still have to go through
a lengthy process to register the product as a medicine. Until then no
therapeutic claims could be made in its marketing.
The Nelson company currently sells most of the product domestically but
it is also exported to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, the United
Kingdom and Australia. A successful clinical trial would provide a huge
boost for overseas sales in particular.
Ideas
for classroom use
This extract from a recent newspaper article illustrates the difficulties
facing New Zealand companies looking to introduce new products onto the
lucrative world wide consumer health market. It could be used as a starter
for class investigation into:
ethical considerations in the promotion and marketing of health
products; and
the issue of consumer safety and the legislative requirements which
health product developers have to meet before new products can be
put onto the market.
