Biological Activities And Clinical Research
Our company in Guatemala has re-assessed the role of the Cinchona succirubra ( red Cinchona ) alkaloids in the race to reduce the impact of malaria in the third world.
Whilst pondering the aftermath of the Tsunami that struck the coastal areas of S. E. Asia in the wake of the earthquake -just off-shore Banda-Aceh ( Indonesia ), which took place in said region on Dec. the 26 th 2004 , a few days later, I came with the idea of developing a quick and manageable option which embraced the foothold already enjoyed in some regions of the world, that relied on botanical and/or herbal remedies –under their traditional medicine and cultural heritage. A few months later, I created then a product called QUININE TEA ( www.quinine-tea.com ), which presentation and dosage was all in line with the European Pharmacopeia allowance intake for quinine alkaloids.
I knew that Cloroquine was an option in the market as well as quinine-sulfate. Although Cloroquine is vastly used for treating and preventing malaria, it’s well known that for some malaria strains, Cloroquine is not effective –as resistance has built through the years in some regions in Africa to this synthetic drug. Quinine sulphate is then the most valid option, but again, genetically speaking, its far more convenient for the pathogen to develop -through time, anti-gene specific anti-bodies to one single alkaloid, than doing so for a bulk of 4-8 alkaloids present altogether in the form of a Tea-infusion, specifically from Cinchona succirubra, as this Cinchona species itself holds the highest variation and concentration of total alkaloids to be found in the Cinchona species. Other cinchona species have been genetically engineered for producing the highest range of quinine, but it’s not - by far the species that holds the highest total alkaloid ratio. The tryptophan synthesis route within the metabolic pathways of each of Cinchona species, is promoting a basipetal translocation and accumulation a specific alkaloids ranges –depeding on the genetic coding of each species. Cinchona succirubra offers the highest concentration of alkaoids.
Therefore, cross-resistance build-up is impossible to achieve by a single pathogenic agent as each alkaloid has different physically geometrical and chemical properties in their defined molecules.
In some sub-Saharan regions in Africa, a great deal of the population suffering from malaria, would not take the prescribed medications promoted by the WHO, due to the sole fact that some of them rather rely on traditional medicine and all what this entails within their cultural traits and habits . Having said this, it all just seemed more than fit, to source them up with a TEA-like REMEDY which embodied a better option to be-friend themselves to it. As said, this initiative prompted me to develop the Quinine-TEA back in early 2005. I came to develop then the patent application process based on the associated reinvindications, and filed my application in Guatemala back then. This guaranteed that a future option for the product could be set in place respecting the claims made on the Original Patent I applied for.
