The active components have been studied for treatment of a variety of things - anti-tumor and pesticide uses being big ones: http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/Pawpaw%

The active components have been studied for treatment of a variety of things - anti-tumor and pesticide uses being big ones: http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/Pawpaw%20Acetogenins.htm http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/Pawpaw%20Acetogenins.htm Unfortunately, it's hard to get funding to work on directly plant-derived compounds since companies can't get a monopoly on the resulting treatments.