Leaves of ‘Manathakkali’ (Solanum Nigrum) which is locally grown on the house premises and pavements have the potential to regulate the uncontrolled growth of cells in the liver.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recognised the compound as an ‘Orphan Drug’ after examining the research paper.
FDA has been awarding Orphan Drug status to a drug with an aim to promote new treatment methods and encourage recognition of new drugs.
Dr Ruby John Anto, senior scientist at RGCB and Dr Lakshmi R Nath, a student at RGCB have gained a patent for the technology to develop the drug. US-based pharma company QBioMed has purchased the technology through Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF).
Dr Ruby and Dr Lakshmi segregated Uttroside B from the leaves of the ‘Manathakkali’.
RGCB director Dr Chandrabhas Narayana stated that the research will be a major turning point in the treatment of liver-related ailments.
Dr Ruby and team associated with Dr L Ravi Sankar at Thiruvananthapuram CSIRNITC for developing the new technology to segregate the compound from ‘Manathakkali’ leaves and studied its efficiency in treating fatty liver, non-alcoholic zero hepatitis and liver cancer from food poison.
“At present, only one medicine approved by FDA is available for liver disease treatment,” informed Dr Ruby.
The research paper was published in ‘Scientific Reports’ one of the journals published by Nature group.
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