PUBLISHED : 2 Sep 2023 at 05:00
Researchers will study the possibility of turning three herbal plants into medicines to fight chronic illnesses linked to exposure to hazardous ultra-fine PM2.5 dust particles.
The plants are fingerroot, green chiretta and the blue trumpet vine.
The project was announced recently by Chaophraya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital in Prachin Buri and Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine at Chakri Naruebodindra Medical Institute in Samut Prakan.
While PM2.5 dust pollution is a cause of chronic illnesses, the plants could ward off the health impacts, said Assoc Prof Phisit Khemawoot, deputy dean for research at Mahidol’s Faculty of Medicine at the Chakri Naruebodindra Medical Institute.
The institute could support this research from laboratory to clinical trials, he said.
Suphaporn Pitiporn, secretary-general of the Chaophraya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital Foundation, said the number of patients suffering chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high cholesterol, is rising and results in complications, which require high-cost treatments.
Among these complications are cancers which cost Thailand tens of billions of baht each year to treat with imported medicines, she said.
“We have to find a substitute to these drugs so that we can improve public access to treatments,” she said.
The properties of these three plants, particularly the fingerroot and the green chiretta, were evident when they were used on Covid-19 patients during the pandemic, she said.
This project would explore the plants’ medical properties and develop new medicines based on them, she said.