The first clinical trial looking at the topical use of kānuka oil for eczema relief has shown that a cream containing oil derived from kānuka is an effective emollient for treatment of moderate-to-severe eczema in adults. Results published in the prestigious Lancet Group’s eClinical Medicine Journal have shown adding kānuka oil to an emollient cream made it more effective at reducing eczema symptoms than the cream alone.

Hikurangi Bioactives Limited Partnership (HBLP) worked with research partners to develop the formula, and sourced the kānuka oil from landowners in Tairāwhiti. The Medical Research Institute of New Zealand undertook the clinical trials. The process was funded by HBLP with 40% subsidy from government (Callaghan Innovation) and a grant from Trust Tairāwhiti that is repayable if the product is successfully licensed.

Since the product has been proven safe and effective, there is potential to make it available in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world. This involves identifying potential licensing partners who can manufacture and sell the product in different markets. Once a licence agreement has been signed, HBLP will work with kānuka oil suppliers around the country to produce the oil required to manufacture the product.

This product involves the following kinds of IP:

• knowledge about the specific formulation of the product;
• knowledge relating to the design and implementation of clinical trials;
• knowledge generated by the clinical trial when the product was tested on participants, that has been published;
• knowledge about kānuka oil including production methods, its chemical profile and bioactivity;
• knowledge about kānuka and its wider ecosystem including how the plant grows (seasonal variation, climate, etc.).

HBLP owns the knowledge of the formulation and results of the clinical trial and has the
rights to commercialise this knowledge. Any of the other kinds of knowledge about kānuka, including Mātauranga Māori, is not owned by HBLP. Kaitiaki own all their mātauranga related to kānuka, this is not included in the product formula or licenced IP.

HBLP will benefit from a successful commercialisation of the product, as will the licensee
who takes the product to market. HBLP will give 30 percent of its profits back to kānuka, funding projects that benefit the plant, communities and the ecosystems that support it; Māori will benefit through their involvement in the production and sale of kānuka oil. Any company that licenses the product and takes it to market will also benefit.

HBLP is committed to ensuring Māori benefit from the successful comemrcialisation of this product. That is why 30 percent of profits will be directed to projects that benefit kānuka and kaitiaki. This is also why HBLP will prioritise Māori participation in the supply of kānuka brush, harvesting activities and extraction processes for the kānuka oil going into the eczema product. As well, HBLP has been investing in work to establish Hā Kānuka, a national kānuka entity that will be led by Māori and ensure that Māori benefit from the new industry and play a key role moving forward. HBLP is 50% owned by a charitable company that works to benefit Māori in the Waiapu Valley and other parts of Tairāwhiti through economic development, housing and food sovereignty initiatives.

Discussions are underway with potential partners who will take the product to market in Aotearoa. It is not yet clear how much the product will cost but HBLP is conscious of its responsibilities to ensure the product is available for Māori and other consumers in Aotearoa.

The involvement of a large pharmaceutical company will ensure this product can benefit many more consumers globally, to share the goodness of kānuka with them but also to create employment and economic opportunities for Māori communities in Aotearoa. The product may be manufactured in Aotearoa or overseas, depending on the company that
licenses it.

In terms of knowledge about kānuka, this product does not affect the ability of Māori to use the plant or their knowledge of the plant, in any way they wish. Access to kānuka remains a resource on Māori and general land that landowners determine how it will be used. HBLP hopes that a flourishing kānuka oil industry will provide Māori landowners additional opportunities and incentives to protect and utilise kānuka.

No. This product only utilises published evidence that a specific formulation with kānuka oil in it is effective in treating eczema. There is no claim or restriction on the name ‘kānuka’ as part of this product being taken to market.

Kānuka itself cannot be patented nor oil copyrighted. Plant Variety Rights could apply if a specific cultivar is bred and evidence submitted but this product is based on existing wild type kānuka and HBLP has no intention to create a breeding programme nor Plant Variety Rights for new varieties of kānuka.

This product does not commercialise traditional knowledge, but rather new knowledge being generated about a product that includes kānuka oil. However HBLP has worked hard, wherever possible, to ensure Māori own new knowledge about kānuka, as well as continued ownership of their own mātauranga.

HBLP does not claim or imply that its products are rongoā, but rather it is utilising extracts from a taonga species to develop a product and proving the safety and efficacy of that specific formulation. Rongoā practices have particular traditions within the Māori communities they are developed by and need to be protected and supported to continue within those communities.

HBLP was established to create employment and economic opportunities wth Māori landowners and communities in the Waiapu Valley. This product and all the associated research into kānuka is intended to give significant benefits to Māori communities. If commercialisation is successful then Māori landowners will derive benefits from the activity associated with supply of oil for the product, and also as a co-owner via Hikurangi Enterprises in HBLP.

The product was initiated by Māori in HBLP to benefit its Māori stakeholders in the Waiapu Valley. Pākehā have been invited to participate and invest based on the skills and expertise HBLP saw a need to bring into the development process. At no point in the product development process have Pākehā been encouraged to claim nor claimed ownership of kānuka, and HBLP has operated on the assumption that as a taonga species, both existing and new knowledge related to kānuka belongs to Māori.

A western scientific method of clinical trials has been used to create evidence that this specific formulation is safe and effective in treating eczema. This is the limit of the claim to new knowledge associated with this product. It takes nothing away from traditional knowledge and the formulation and application of the product is based on more than just kānuka oil.

Māori are a key part of the team leading this research. As we develop more products from our taonga there will be less reliance on non-Māori researchers, investors and commercial partners and more appetite amongst Māori individuals and organisations to invest in these kinds of high cost, high risk ventures.

This kind of research is expensive, has a high chance of failure and can take a long time. Finding investors who are willing to take the risk is very difficult.