Steven King, PhD Jaguar Health
Steven King, PhD Jaguar Health Chief Sustainable Supply, Ethnobotanical Research, and IP Officer
Dr. King is currently the Chief Sustainable Supply, Ethnobotanical Research, and IP Officer at Jaguar Health, where he is focusing on the integration of traditional ethnomedical knowledge to develop novel therapeutics. He has focused on reciprocity with local collaborating communities and the conservation of biocultural diversity as part of this process.
Over the past 3.5 decades he has dedicated himself to the sustainable harvest and management of the Croton lechleri, also known as the Dragon's Blood tree, found in the Amazon rain forests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Steve's efforts have been crucial in developing Crofelemer from this tree into an innovative plant-based prescription medication (Mytesi), which is the first FDA-approved oral Botanical Drug. Crofelemer is also in development for cancer therapy-related diarrhea (CTD) and several other gastrointestinal indications.
Most recently he and many ethnobotanical colleagues who were scientific strategy team (SST) advisors to Shaman Pharmaceuticals, formed the Entheogen Therapeutics Initiative (ETI) that has led to the formation of Magdalena Biosciences, a joint venture between Jaguar/ETI and Filament Health in Vancouver, Canada that is also focusing on developing new drugs under FDA Botanical Drug Guidance.