Company claims herbal treatment for bird flu

New to Raw Story? Click here to visit our home page for the latest news.

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday December 8, 2006

Singapore- A Singapore-based company has extracted key active ingredients from the elderberry to create herbal lozenges that could rival Tamiflu, HerbalScience claimed Saturday. The firm claims that its pills are more effective than Tamiflu, the oral antiviral drug used against bird flu.

The raw elderberry comes from a farm in Austria, John McClelland, senior vice-president for HerbalScience, told The Straits Times. Elderberries are freeze-dried and delivered to the processing plant in Singapore.

The extract, delivered in the form of lozenges, will be on the market in January at a cost of 3 to 5 Singapore dollars (1.92-3.20 US dollars) for a one-day dosage.

Researchers from the company tested 1,500 milligrams of the extract in a laboratory against the human flu virus.

"These resulted in 100 per cent inhibition," Dr Luisa Lee, HerbalScience's medical research director, was quoted as saying.

"What is also exciting is that the extract doesn't seem to be strain-specific and is effective against other viruses," including the virus that causes dengue fever, she said.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency