Breakthrough in Covid treatment using African plants

● Far more money was invested in the pharmaceutical development of Covid vaccines than in treatments.

But this week, as SA returns to “normal” after more than two years of anti-disease protocols, the University of the Free State (UFS) has made a breakthrough with a potential treatment derived from plants.

Known as Phela, the treatment contains extracts from four African plants that have traditionally been used to treat wasting conditions and as energy boosters. According to some medical practitioners, they have also shown success with HIV patients.

In a paper prepared for Scientific Reports and which is still to be peer-reviewed, the researchers — led by Motlalepula Matsabisa from UFS and Kabamba Alexandre from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research — say: “Our data showed that Phela has potential and could be developed as a Covid-19 therapeutic.”

They say plant products could be a “good place to start looking” for anti-Covid treatments.

“Plants have been utilised as medicines by people all over the world from ancient times, particularly in Asian countries such as India, China and Japan, as well as in several African countries,” they say.

“These herbs’ broad availability and low cost have led to their popular use among indigenous people. This gives hope that Covid-19 medications produced from natural products could be efficacious through a variety of ways.”

Matsabisa’s interest in Phela long predates Covid. In a two-year research project in the early 2000s, he surveyed 500 HIV/Aids patients at the Philisa Health Care Centre in Mabopane, North West.

When used as an immune booster, Phela led to an increase in appetite, 23% weight gain and 80% reduction in viral load with a 200% increase in CD4 cell counts.

The latest study on Phela was done in the laboratory and researchers found their formulation inhibited the growth of the virus that causes Covid and the growth of infection. As they studied its effect on other coronaviruses, they also found that it inhibited the growth of Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers-CoV), which was identified a decade ago and within a short space of time killed almost 1,000 people.

While its prevalence and death toll were a tiny fraction of that of Covid, its fatality rate was exponentially higher — 35% of those who contracted the disease died from it.

According to the authors, the research “could help direct us to unravel the possible mechanism of action of Phela against Covid. Our data showed that Phela has the potential for further development as a Covid therapeutic.”

It could either be developed as a complementary treatment or a standalone or adjunctive therapy.

But, add the researchers, their work requires “further experimental validation”, particularly when it comes to different variants.