Yellow miracle

The Biochemistry Department of the Indian Institute of Science IISc, Bangalore, which is doing the research, has applied for a patent in India and the US.

Says Dr G Padmanabhan of IISc, who has been working on this for the past four years: 8216;8216;The animal studies are over and the drug was very successful in the mice model. The Malarial Research Centre MRC, Delhi, and the Department of Biotechnology will conduct the clinical trials.8217;8217;

The trial will be held in Orissa, the state with the largest number of malaria cases. 8216;8216;This drug will have to be tested on 100 patients with mild malaria first before we can go on to more serious malaria such as cerebral malaria,8217;8217; he says.

Curcumin, the pure compound in turmeric when combined with Artmisinin a Chinese drug has shown no resistance and no side effects in animal trials. 8216;8216;There is so much that we know about haldi and curcumin and yet little has been done so far to make use of it for medical purposes. A multi-arm study for its use in cancer therapy is also underway,8217;8217; says Dr Padmanabhan.

Malaria infects about 2.5 million people in India every year and it is increasingly becoming resistant to commonly used drugs.