Covid herbal remedy

Until now, there is still no drug formula or vaccine for COVID-19 in Indonesia. However, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) is working on a COVID-19 herbal medicine from two plants, namely ketepeng leaves (Cassia alata) and parasites (Dendrophthoe sp.).

The two candidates for the coronavirus herbal medicine that are being tested by LIPI are Indonesia's hopes in facing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The initial process of research on the herbal medicine for COVID-19

Source: LIPI Public Relations

In an effort to fight COVID-19, the Indonesian government has formed a consortium (association) containing scientists from several research institutions and universities. In this consortium, the LIPI Chemical Research Center was appointed to develop the herbal medicine for COVID-19.

In collaboration with the Department of Microbiology, FKUI and Kyoto University, LIPI then developed an antiviral drug for COVID-19 from rhino ketepeng leaves and parasites.

Ketepeng is an herbal plant registered in the formulary for traditional Indonesian medicinal herbs at the Ministry of Health.

Ketepeng leaves have been researched and proven to have several properties, one of which is as an anti-parasitic (pinworm) and skin medicine. Benalu has been tested on animals as an anti-cancer drug.

Ketepeng leaves have also been shown to actively inhibit the growth of the dengue virus which causes dengue fever. Testing of ketepeng leaves against the dengue virus has passed preclinical tests on mice and has succeeded in reducing the number of viruses, increasing the number of platelets, and improving the levels of the immune system components.

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The research was conducted by Marissa Angelina, a researcher in the field of chemical pharmacy, LIPI Research Center, who is currently developing the herbal medicine for COVID-19.

Marissa said the two Indonesian herbal plants had the potential to be developed into herbal remedies for coronavirus infection.

"Ketepeng and parasite leaves have compounds which are predicted to play an active role as antiviral agents," explained Marissa.

LIPI began researching the efficacy of these two herbal ingredients against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 since early March 2020.

"We are doing simulation testing in silico with the protein contained in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, "said Marissa.

In silico is a research drug discovery study using computer modeling with a special program. With this modeling, researchers experimented with interactions between drug candidates and viral genetics.

From this simulation, researchers saw the compounds in the herbal plant ketapang leaves and parasites actively inhibited the growth of the virus that causes COVID-19.

"By testing in silico and safety toxicity testing, we've been working on. However, we cannot do the testing for SARS-CoV-2 activity in animals because the virus culture is not yet available, ”explained Marissa.

We hope to continue clinical trials of the COVID-19 herbal medicine in humans

The formulation of the COVID-19 herbal medicine candidate that is being developed must then go through the preclinical test stage. In this phase, researchers will usually look at the effects of drugs in animals. However, testing at this stage cannot be done because the viral culture is not yet available.

In addition, Marissa hopes that this COVID-19 herbal medicine candidate can directly conduct clinical trials in humans without preclinical to animals. This is because this pandemic condition desperately needs drugs that can help medical workers fight COVID-19.

"We hope that we can immediately carry out clinical trials because this drug is safe. We already know the chemical content and we have also isolated the chemical compounds, "said Marissa.

Accelerating testing to the clinical trial stage requires permission from the Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) and the Ministry of Health. The news of the coronavirus article on the herbal medicine for COVID-19 is of course a breath of fresh air for the settlement of the pandemic in Indonesia.