Indo-French team readies natural drugs for acute ailments

Hyderabad: Molecules and compounds extracted from nature and tweaked further through processes developed at the Indo-French joint research lab in the city, are being readied as drugs for acute ailments like cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson.

Tarnaka based CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology in collaboration with Institute for Chemical Sciences in Rennes of France are working jointly in the lab at Tarnaka.

Scientists at Indian Institute of Chemical Technology are working on identification, design and synthesis of anti-cancer drug molecules for breast, ovarian and melanoma cancers along with diseases related to the central nervous system.

Experiments on zebra fish and mice have revealed that the drugs developed are neurotrophic and neurogenic and help in slowing the degeneration of nerve cells in certain neurodegenerative diseases.

For instance, IICT along with Mayo Lab has patented an extract from the neem tree which could be hugely beneficial for patients suffering from renal cancer. IICT Director Dr S. Chandrasekhar says, “Regarding the neem extract joint patent, the name of which we can’t reveal at this point of time, we are working on Structure-activity-Relationship (SAR),  a  concept in drug discovery research that helps in establishing a relationship between the molecular structure and biological or physicochemical activity of chemicals.”

The Indo-French Joint lab for Natural Products and Synthetic for Affordable Health (NPSAH) has also tested several natural products in Zebra Fish which have proved to be neurotrophic and neurogenic.

“The molecules and compounds we identified and improvised upon can slow down the degeneration of neural network in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients. In the collaborative project we are working on cannabinoid pathways”, said Mr Chandrasekhar.

IICT has also entered into an agreement with Transdisciplinary University at Bengaluru to find out the molecular functioning of a type of a herbal decoction which is used by people in Odisha as a prophylactic measure for malarial fever.

“As per the agreement, we will be working on isolation of molecules from the decoction.”