Local researchers are studying the possibility of turning three herbal plants into medicines for use in fighting chronic illnesses linked to air pollution.
The plants are fingerroot (Boesenbergia rotunda), green chiretta (Andrographis paniculata) and the blue trumpet vine (Thunbergia laurifolia).
The research project is being carried out by Chaophraya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital in Prachin Buri and Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine at the Chakri Naruebodindra Medical Institute in Samut Prakan.
While PM2.5 ultra-fine dust pollution is a cause of several chronic illnesses, the plants could ward off the health impacts of air pollution, said Assoc Prof Phisit Khemawoot, deputy dean for research at the Chakri Naruebodindra Medical Institute.
The institute will support the research from the laboratory stage to clinical trials, he added.
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 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 the three plants, particularly fingerroot and green chiretta, were evident when they were used on Covid-19 patients during the pandemic, she said.
The research project would explore the plants’ medicinal properties and develop new medicines based on them, she added.