Bangalore, March 2, 2007: A group of Malaysian scientists have discovered a breakthrough antiviral drug from an herbal extract for the treatment of dengue. This could be the world’s first dengue antiviral drug based on herbal extracts. Dengue is an acute infectious, eruptive, febrile disease caused by four antigenically related but distinct serotypes of the Dengue virus. It is transmitted by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, especially A. aegypti.

 

Scientists at the Medical Department of Universiti Malaya and the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre have developed the antiviral drug, known as Dengimm2, from extracts of Artemisia and eight other local herbs. Dengimm2 was proved safe when tested on infected cells and in mice.

 

The plant extracts were supplied to University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) by Autoimmune Sdn Bhd following a memorandum of understanding signed between the hospital and the company in 2004.

 

Professor Sazaly Abu Bakar, Head of the Department of Microbiology at the university, stated that the discovery is just the first step and it would take another three or four more years before the product is ready for clinical use as it has to undergo toxicological, chemical and side-effects tests to attain approval. Currently the product is registered at the Malaysia Drug Control Authority.

 

Although the university has comprehensive testing facilities, Prof Sazaly believes that the success of the research would depend on the availability of funds, which has to be generated from an external source. Prof Sazaly said that it would cost about a few million ringgits to conduct pre-clinical studies. The team would also have to get an approval from the Food and Drug Administration before initiating the clinical trials.