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Herbal medicine to treat dengue developed by Indian scientists
Posted on: 09/Mar/2016 9:31:22 AM
Indian scientists have developed a herbal medicine that can help fight against dengue. The drug will now go through clinical trials and toxicity studies before seeking permission for commercial production. Permission will have to be granted from the Ministry of Ayush and the Drug Controller of India (DCI).
Ayurveda was used to devise the drug. This project was jointly undertaken by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Ministry of Science and Technology, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) and Ranbaxy Research Laboratory (now owned by Sun Pharma).
Speaking about this, a senior scientist at ICGEB said, Using the knowledge of traditional Indian medicine - Ayurveda - we developed a systematic bioassay-guided screening approach to explore the indigenous herbal bio- resource to identify plants with pan-DENV (dengue virus) inhibitory activity. Results showed that the alcoholic extract of Cissampelos pariera Linn (Cipa extract) was a potent inhibitor of all four DENVs in cell-based assays, assessed in terms of viral NS1 antigen secretion using ELISA, as well as viral replication, based on plaque assays.
Virus yield reduction assays showed that Cipa extract could decrease viral titers by an order of magnitude. The extract conferred statistically significant protection against DENV infection. Preliminary evaluation of the clinical relevance of Cipa extract showed it had no adverse impact on platelet count and RBC viability. It also showed no evidence of toxicity in Wistar rats, when administered doses as high as 2g/Kg body weight for up to a week. We have tested it on rats and have got positive results, but now it needs to be tested on bigger animals.
An advisor to DBT said, Since the drug has been made from plant extracts and not chemicals, it has sought permission from both the Ministry of Ayush and also the Drug Controller of India.
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