How the wonder drug known as ‘Himalayan Viagra’ is threatened by climate change

A prized caterpillar fungus that is more valuable than gold and is nicknamed “Himalayan Viagra” in Asia, where it is seen as a wonder drug, is becoming harder to find due to climate change, researchers said on Monday.

People in China and Nepal have been killed in clashes over the years over the elusive fungus “yarchagumba,” known formally as Ophiocordyceps sinensis.

Although it has no scientifically proven benefits, people who boil yarchagumba in water to make tea or add it to soups and stews believe it cures everything from impotence to cancer.

It is “one of the world’s most valuable biological commodities, providing a crucial source of income for hundreds of thousands of collectors,” said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal.

In recent decades, it has skyrocketed in popularity and prices have soared – it can fetch up to three times the price of gold in Beijing, researchers say.

While many have suspected overharvesting was the reason for its scarcity, researchers wanted to find out more.

So they interviewed around four dozen harvesters, collectors and traders of the prized fungus. They also scoured previously published scientific literature, including interviews with more than 800 people in Nepal, Bhutan, India and China, to understand its apparent decline.