Could Ancient Rainforest Remedy Banish Toothache For Good?
An ancient Incan toothache remedy has successfully passed the first two stages of clinical trials, meaning that a rainforest remedy could soon put a stop to dental pain.
Dr Francoise Barbira Freedman, an anthropologist at Cambridge University, was the first Westerner to be invited to the Peruvian rainforest to spend time with the Keshwa Lamas and she has pushed for the remedy to be put through clinical trials. The treatment, which is made from different varieties of the Acmella Oleracea plant, has produced excellent results during the first two phases of clinical trials. The plant source is made into gel form for medical use and it is hoped that it will help to reduce reliance on local anaesthetic in the future.
Dr Freedman established her own company, Ampika Ltd, as a means of pushing for the natural painkiller to be marketed as an alternative to synthetic analgesics. The company is an off-shoot of Cambridge University’s commercial department, Cambridge Enterprise.
Dr Freedman runs her company according to strict guidelines and any profits will be reinvested and donated to the Keshwa Lamas community, which was kind enough to share knowledge about the ancient remedy.
The remedy has been trialled for five years and no side-effects have been identified. The drug is now in phase III of the trials, which involves multi-location trials and the plan is to market the treatment in 2014/2015.
Dr Freedman has continued to live among the Keshwa Lamas throughout the trial process and she has been with the community on and off for over 30 years. She decided to try and bring the drug to market after being treated by locals for pain caused by her wisdom teeth. This was in 1975. Many years later, when Dr Freedman was at Cambridge, she was asked by a neuroscientist to bring in some plant samples and she suddenly remember the plant wad that had been given to her in Peru; the sample was supposed to be the last tested, but there was a mix-up and it ended up top of the list.
Dr Freedman said that the success of the trial could change dentistry. Many patients will not have to have injections, a source of great anxiety for most people and side-effects may become a thing of the past.
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