New antihelminthic drug called Mirazid, derived purely from a natural botanical source, has been registered by the Egyptian ministry of health as a treatment for schistosomiasis and fascioliasis
The Egyptian pharmaceutical company (Pharco) has launched a new antihelminthic drug called Mirazid, derived purely from a natural botanical source.
The Egyptian ministry of health has registered this product as a treatment for schistosomiasis and fascioliasis. Dr A Masoud, a professor of tropical medicine in Al-Azhar University and the principal clinical investigator said: "Though this drug is exclusively derived from a natural botanical source, it represents the outcome of a good link between university academic researches and the advanced technology of drug industry.
Over seven years were spent in experimental, analytical and toxicological animal studies in the company labs; followed by threee phases of pre-registration human clinical trials done in five university hospitals.Many of these clinical trials were published in international peer reviewed medical journals".
In the study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; the study was carried out on 204 patients with schistosomiasis.
The drug was given at a dose of 10mg/kg of body weight/day for three days, and induced a cure rate of 91.7%.
Re-treatment of cases who did not respond with a dose of 10mg/kg of body weight/day for six days increased the overall cure rate to 98.09%.
The drug was well tolerated, and side effects were mild and transient.
Twenty cases provided biopsy specimens six months after treatment and none of them showed living ova.
Sheir Z, Nasr AA, Massoud A, Salama O, et al. A safe, effective, herbal antischistosomal therapy derived from myrrh.
Am J Trop Med Hyg., 65(6), 2001, 700.
In another clinical trial published in the same journal on patients infested with fascioliasis; a dramatic drop in the egg count was detected at the end of treatment.
Eggs were no longer detectable in the faeces three weeks after treatment and after a follow-up period of three months.
High eosinophilic counts, elevated liver enzymes, and fasciola antibody titers returned to nearly normal. No signs of toxicity or adverse effects were observed.
Massoud A, El Sisi S, Salama O, Preliminary study of therapeutic efficacy of a new fasciolicidal drug derived from Commiphora molmol (myrrh). Am J Trop Med Hyg., 65 (2), 2001, 96.
The Egyptian ministry of health authorities had registered this formula, produced by Pharco Pharmaceuticals under the name Mirazid, for schistosomiasis and fascioliasis.
Pharco launched the product in Egypt this month.
