There is a woman having spent nearly 20 years of her life studying Vietnamese Crinum latifolium L. and creating Crila capsule for uterine fibroids, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and some other tumor diseases. The research of Pharmacist Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram - Director of Thien Duoc Co., Ltd was granted the registration patent and brought her to the 2007 Kovalevskaya Award.

Nowadays, there is an increasing tendency all over the world to back to natural medicines and supplements due to their safety with high treatment efficacy. Therefore, Vietnamese scientists have focused on researching into medicinal plants to find new medicines with high quality, efficacy and safety. One of the successful research projects in Vietnamese medical and pharmaceutical industry is the birth of Crila of Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram and her scientific coworkers in Vietnam and foreign countries. This product is the result of a research process with many stages including botany, chemical composition, extraction, biological effects, formulation, and clinical trials.

Journey to find valuable remedy

In 1984, ten years after graduating from University of Pharmacy, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram passed the national competitive examination for postgraduates. Then, the Ministry of Education and Training sent her to Bulgaria for further education and research in Sofia Technical University. In April 1991, she defended excellently her doctoral thesis with the topic “Study of the chemical composition of the essential oils of Amomum Tsaoko Crévost et Lemerie’ - Zingiberaceae family” and became an assistant professor of the Faculty of Organic Chemistry - Sofia Technical University, and also collaborator of the Bulgarian Academy of Science. She was a member of research group on bioactive substances derived from herbs that have the ability to support cancer treatment.

To discover new medicinal plants of Vietnamese botanical resource, she has travelled throughout the country and luckily, in Hue, she heard from an elderly woman that according to folklore experience “Toi Loi” (common name of Crinum latifolium L.) can treat prostatic fibroids. Following this information, Dr. Tram investigated, collected seven Crinum plants looking alike Crinum latifolium L. in Vietnam and domesticated them in a medicinal plantation, then researched extractions of substance groups to evaluate its biological effect against the growth of tumor cells. The result of flavonoid and alkaloid research showed that Crinum latifolium L. is one of seven broadleaf Crinum plants having bioactivity that can be used as raw materials to produce medicine for oncology.

Arduous path of creating national medicine

To have new ideas for research, she always kept her concentration on the issues she was studying at any time even when preparing family meals.

During over 15 years of struggling with objective trouble due to the fact that some scientists didn’t put much faith that Vietnam could have a medicine for treating uterine fibroids. They supposed that even advanced countries like the U.S., France could not found the treatment for uterine fibroids, so that it was unbelievable that Crila could. It was not until the results of clinical trials under Regulation 371 of the Ministry of Health in some hospitals: VN National Institute of Gerontology, National Maternity Hospital, National Hospital of Traditional Medicine, HCMC National Hospital of Traditional Medicine, and Tu Du Hospital, evaluated Crila to be safe and quality with treatment efficacy for uterine fibroids and BPH at 79.5% and 89.18% respectively, they began believing Crila to have treating capability.

Based on the results of clinical research, the Council of Science and Technology - Ministry of Health has proposed Drug Administration to license Crila capsule for nationwide circulation since 2005.

Modernization of traditional medicine

In traditional medicine, Oriental medicine is often used in forms of decoction, syrup, pills, and medicinal powder. Nowadays, the modernization of traditional medicine creates medicinal products with modern dosage forms such as capsule, film-coated capsule, tablet, etc. To modernize traditional medicine is to modernize from production to finished products with modern dosage forms. However, to have capsule with safety, quality, and efficiency, it is necessary to have materials with stable biological activity. Therefore, from 1990 until now, Dr. Tram has built, researched, and developed a 30-hectare plantation of purebred Crinum latifolium L., which is domesticated under GAP-WHO standard at Long Thanh - Dong Nai and Phu Giao - Binh Duong. Until now, there are sufficient raw materials for drug production to serve community health. Thien Duoc Co., Ltd has staffs trained, to master knowledge of cultivation, caring, harvest and techniques of process, extraction and formulation. Therefore, we have created a trustworthy Vietnamese-brand product with high quality and reasonable price for low-income people in our country and around the world.

Confidence of the physician

The conversation with Dr. Tram was always interrupted by many phone calls of patients from many regions in Vietnam. She was always considerate, patient to instruct for each person though she was very busy. Those who came directly to ask her for advice are instructed how to use medicine appropriately by her employees. So far, there were many patients sending their letters of thank to Dr. Tram, among whom patients have difficulty in getting pregnancy due to uterine fibroids, but was pregnant and gave birth to a smart and healthy baby after using Crila. To express their gratitude to her, they named their children after her name -“Tram”. This made her very impressed and encouraged her to continue her studies to create other medicines.

Currently, she is researching a medicine from Vietnamese herbs for treating haemorrhoids, enhancing body’s resistance, and regulating heart rate. A big dream in the future of Thien Duoc Co., Ltd is exporting Crila as much as possible. When there are sufficient funds to afford operation cost of her company, she will save the remaining amount to carry out her dream of building an oncology hospital for free as a way of saying thanks to the help from her family and colleagues those with all their heart tried to help and encourage her to overcome difficulties in the past years.

As for the question about mind innovating to bring science into practical applications, Dr. Tram said, “An Asian country like India soon has Institute of Pharmacology since 1951 to study and create new products from Indian medicinal herb. Indian scientists not only know how to use modern equipment but also how to take advantage of old machinery, improve them to serve research works. Therefore, India has invented medicines with appropriate price for earnings of the poor in the world and has exported a large number of herbal medicines. At present, our country has 3,948 species of plants, 408 species of medicinal animals and nearly 50% of 11,000 kinds of Holothurian and sea creatures having medicinal effects. With rich and diverse herbal resources, if we are determined to invest and have proper policies to encourage scientists in creating thousands of specific medicines each year which are not inferior to medicines manufactured from advanced countries like the USA, UK , France, etc.