The pharmaceutical company Hersil de Peru, which works with endemic medicinal plants, is about to launch a new product based on 'maca' (Lepidium meyenii Walp), known popularly as “herbal Viagra” because of its supposed sexual stimulant qualities. “We have several new clinical studies about maca (especially one variety of it) and when it becomes public knowledge it is going to generate great demand,” José Luis Silva, an executive at Hersil, which with 40 years on the market is focusing on the sustainable use of biotechnology, told Tierramérica.

Silva, who for business reasons preferred to keep details of new products confidential, said that the properties of maca are well known in Peru, which is why selling it does not require recognizing the special rights of traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples, who have been using maca for hundreds of years.

Indigenous groups and social activists, however, maintain that it is a case of biopiracy of indigenous knowledge and they demand compensation for the commercialization of maca.