News about the aggressive fight against dengue has always been a source of great interest for the people and we may be seeing a breakthrough in this battle. Reports are saying that a herbal medicine has been prepared by the Indian scientists, and we may finally win the battle raging against the dreaded dengue. India is one of the most exposed countries and life threatening dengue infestation cases have been recorded in our country.
At the moment toxicity studies and clinical trials are underway and after this the researchers will be approaching the Ministry of Ayush and the Drug Controller of India (DCI) to obtain permission from them and start commercial production.
The project is a joint undertaking of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), (Ministry of Science and Technology), the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and Ranbaxy Research Laboratory. Spokespersons of research have given a statement, saying that they used the knowledge of Ayurveda traditional Indian medicine – to develop “a systematic bio-assay-guided screening approach to explore the indigenous herbal bio-resource to identify plants with pan-DENV (dengue virus) inhibitory activity”.
Based on the plaque assays, researchers deduced that “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.”
Cipa extract effects the virus yield reduction, and has the capability of decreasing viral titers, said the researchers with a special attention to order of magnitude.
The group leader of the project, Navin Khanna, who is also the senior scientist at ICGEB claimed that “The extract conferred statistically significant protection against DENV infection.” The Cipa extract also had no negative effect on the RBC viability and Platelet count, stated Khanna.
The experiment viability was also tested on Wistar rats who were given doses of Cipa extract almost “as high as 2g/Kg body weight for up to a week” and there was no adverse impact noted. Now is the time to check the impact of this on bigger animals said Khanna.
The medicine under research is said to have been derived the natural way from plants and does not have a trace of chemicals in it. Mohammad Aslam, senior advisor to DBT, claimed that they have asked permission from the Ministry of Ayush and the Drug Controller of India as the drug has shown its resistance to about 4 dengue virus.
The drug will be launched commercially by Sun Pharma which has patents in 17 countries and these places have shown a rise in dengue cases “The drug has proved to be resistant to four types of dengue virus.”
Dengue, the viral disease, is caused by a mosquito and the number of deaths due to the infection has placed it in the high risk category. The infection outbreaks in tropical countries like India is said to be due to the overpopulation status and the high prevalence of the mosquitoes that are carriers of DENVs. Dengue can be fatal and can lead to lowering of platelet counts, hemorrhage and death.
