Peruvian Viagra Under Threat

Not many people have heard of the Peruvian Viagra that grows naturally in the Andes. It is made from a rare root that comes from a plant called Maca and is well known to the local Quechuan Indians who live in the area. Initially it started off as a remedy to help men and women who were suffering from altitude sickness caused by the lack of oxygen but the men started to notice its pleasant side effects and its fame grew. The locals make the remedy by mixing the roots and crushing them to a liquid pulp.

However the age old tradition of crushing Maca to boost sexual function is under threat if a large multinational company gains the rights to the Maca plants active ingredients. Farmers who grow Maca were recently faced with the news that an American company called PureWorld Botanicals has been given an exclusive US patent for the commercial exploitation and distribution of the maca extract that can boost libido and sex drive. The company even plan to call the new product MacaPure.

The government of Peru is not taking this lying down and will soon be challenging the patent in court in the United States arguing that Maca belongs to the Peruvian people and can not be made the subject of a US patent. They will seek to prove that the compound that is found in Maca has been around for hundreds of years and is therefore no new invention or discovery and thus cannot be patented.

Unlike many traditional impotence remedies it seems that the Maca extract really woks. Many traditional remedies have been shown to have no real physical effect but purely rely on the placebo effect that erectile dysfunction drugs are known to produce. Independent testing in rats has shown the beneficial properties of Maca and its effect on sexual function and has shown that the effect is not purely a placebo one.