Trade

Approximately 30,000 kg Taxus biomass (leaves, twigs, bark, needles and roots) is required to produce 1 kg of refined paclitaxel. An estimated 400 kg/year of paclitaxel products are marketed annually in North America and Europe with global amounts estimated at 800–1000 kg. Global demand for paclitaxel in 2004 was estimated at 400 kg/year. However while the US market was described as stagnant the European market was expected to expand with the entry into the market of generic products. Global demand for Taxol is growing and estimated at 800–1000 kg worldwide by 2012. Current market price of Taxus is around US $150–160/kg. World sales of paclitaxel in 2003 were estimated at US $4.2 billion and were expected to grow to US $13 billion by 2008. Bioxel Pharma Inc., a Canadian laboratory producing active pharmaceutical products projected annual sales of US $90 million in 2004. As chemical derivatives rather than plant biomass are the Taxus commodity often traded, the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix II annotation (Appendix II lists species which though not threatened may become so unless trade is closely controlled) specifically designates all parts and derivatives except seeds, pollen and finished pharmaceutical products.

Taxus biomass in trade is sometimes exported as dried needles and twigs or often in a crude liquid or powdered extracts of varying concentrations. Chemical extracts of Taxus species in trade vary in appearence from a tar-like substance (referred to as ‘brown liquor’) shipped in drums to a light brown powder. Paclitaxel is a whitish or yellowish crystalline material.

Large paclitaxel production facilities exist worldwide including facilities in India, China, North America and Europe. Taxanes are a global commodity and the distribution of taxus biomass and chemical derivatives for use in pharmaceutical production occurs on a worldwide basis.

The centre of demand for finished products made from paclitaxel and related compounds continues to be in the United States and to an increasing extent in Europe. The US Scientific Authority believes that the bulk of Taxus trade consists of Asian rather than North American species.

Although T. wallichiana has been listed in CITES App II since 1995, there remains little information available regarding current rates of harvest and trade due to a combination of factors including

  • varying interpretations and confusion regarding the taxonomy of T. wallichiana and other Taxus species;
  • generally low levels of CITES implementation for medicinal plant species;
  • exclusion of chemical derivatives (extracts) from CITES trade controls from 2004–2005 and difficulty in visually identifying the main products in trade (leaves, bark, extract) including with regard to discriminating between parts and derivatives from T. wallichiana and other taxus species.

Taxus is processed on an industrial scale within India for the production of Ayurvedic medicines as well as extraction of taxanes such as paclitaxel for re-export. Paclitaxel extraction in India is expanding and India is believed to be one of the world’s main producers of paclitaxel, with exports of this and the related taxane docetaxol recorded in India’s customs data indicating the scale of processing. Processing involves Taxus species collected within India and from imported T. baccata.

Following China’s ban on Taxus harvest, Taxus used for extraction of paclitaxel was increasingly imported from other countries. In India, the export of T. wallichiana has been prohibited through its listing on the negative list of exports since March 1996 and possibly as early as 1994. India is estimated to have exported 5,500 tonnes of leaves during 1994. Paclitaxel extraction was reported as taking place within India in the 1990s for instance by Indo-Italian companies for export to the United States.

International trade in T. wallichiana and other Asian Taxus species involves a combination of leaves, bark and extracts in various stages of processing. Much of the preliminary processing appears to take place within the three range states named above, while the final pharmaceutical products are more likely to be produced and consumed in the United States and increasingly in Europe. There has also been an increasing trade in raw materials from European and North American Taxus species to China in recent years to support processing facilities there.

Paclitaxel is also now being produced via plant cell fermentation technology, although the rights to this technology were apparently initially licensed to a single company. Significant investments in the cultivation of Taxus species suggest that demand for wild-harvested plants will decrease at some stage in the future.

Wild harvest continues to be legal in some states within India, and national export laws allow for the export of formulations made from wild-harvested material. Similarly wild harvest is allowed within Nepal, as is export of value added products (e.g. extracts).


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