KOCHI: The three-year study of the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI), Thiruvananthapuram, funded by the Department of Science and Technology for producing a natural substitute for impotency drugs, has yielded results. The TBGRI team has filed for the patent on the aphrodisiac compound, obtained from the common orchid, vanda tessellata (maravazha in local parlance). The patent, due in another six months, clears the first stage towards the development of the Indian drug.
The plant’s aphrodisiac property has been known but it was the TBGRI team, comprising director A Subramonian and co-investigators P K Suresh Kumar and A Gangaprasad, which discovered the aphrodisiac compound from mainly the orchid’s flowers. The orchid has been used as a herbal cure-all by the local communities in India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Trials on mice have proved positive and the pups were found to be quite normal.
This new compound brings about its aphrodisiac activity by activating cells and nerves in the male organ, enhancing levels of nitric oxide. Both Sildinafil (marketed as Viagra) and the new herbal extract, work on the nitric oxide levels, the former by inhibiting the degradation and the latter by enhancing nitric oxide levels in the male tissue. According to Dr Subramonian, the compound has obvious advantages over the existing drug (Sildenafil), which is not available over-the-counter. The plant had been consumed for long by humans without any recorded side-effects. Hardly any herbal drug other than Yohimbine, has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration as a drug for male sexual dysfunction. In the case of Vanda tessellata, the toxicity studies on rodents have so far been encouraging because of the efficacy of the compound without any noticeable effects.
The 30-60 centimetres tall orchid has leafy stem, with thick leathery and curved leaves, grows on the surface of plants and its lowers are greenish yellow, mottled with brown on the mid-lobe of lip with purple outgrowths. The whole plant is used in various treatments and has been documented to be effective as anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, antimicrobial, antipyretic and in wound-healing. Screening traditional orchids for various pharmacological properties led to the discovery of aphrodisiac activity. Attempts have been made to elucidate the compound’s structure. The functional group has not yet been identified.
The present discovery provides not only an alternative to Viagra, but also is safer than Viagra. It is estimated that over 70 percent of all serious impotence cases are the result of diabetes, kidney diseases, multiple sclerosis, endocrine disorders, vascular diseases and high blood pressure, as well as neurological diseases. More importantly, about 50-60 percent of diabetic men are impotent.