The Kovalevskaya Award is held annually to recognize significant contributions of groups and individuals who record excellent achievements in researching and applying science into practice. Individual 2007 prize was awarded to Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram - the inventor of Crila capsule from Crinum latifolium L., with good effectiveness in the treatment of uterine fibroids and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
She is a daughter of late Prof. Dr. in science, Labor Hero - Nguyen Van Truong. At the age of 24, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram was known by scientific circles through her research work, ‘Extracting essential oil from the herb Coleus Aromaticus Benth Labiatae’ from which she made cough syrup for children. She successfully defended her doctoral thesis in the Republic of Bulgaria in 1990 (with the subject ‘Determining the composition and structure of 45 compounds in the essential oil of Vietnamese cardamom’, which was evaluated to be outstanding). Besides, she has been the head and member in a variety of projects in different levels with highly scientific and practical significance.
Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram is a female scientist having many scientific research works in the pharmaceutical field. In the application research field, she has 3 ministry-level subjects and 3 national-level projects. Her project, ‘Studying a specific medicine for tumors from Crinum latifolium L.’ has contributed greatly to the field of precious medicinal herbs’ gene conservation. To gain this success, Dr. Tram and colleagues spent nearly 20 years seeking and researching. With Crila capsule, she has proven that medicinal herbs may have bioactive substances, stimulating the immune system, supporting cancer treatment, preventing angiogenesis of cancer cells and other benign tumors such as uterine fibroids and BPH. Crila by Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram has created a major turning point in the history of the pharmaceutical industry in Vietnam in particular and the world in general. This product has enormous potentiality for export because of the possibility of taking initiative in material source and production extension, full of promise to have significant contribution to the economy.
From this success, Crila capsule treating uterine fibroids and BPH, formulated from Crinum latifolium L. was born. Results from Council of scientific research at ministry level showed the effectiveness of Crila at 89,18%. Crila can also be used in the treatment of uterine fibroids, which has experienced clinical trials in the Central Obstetrics Hospital with the result of nearly 70 % ... In addition, Crila has effect in stimulating the immune system, supporting cancer patients, enhancing body resistance against the production of cancer cells and metastasis after surgery.
Treatment efficacy of Crila is equivalent to that of other medicines from other countries but its price is much cheaper. Normally, the drugs manufactured from chemically synthetic materials (or semi-synthetic), or from natural materials all are costly. For example, the price of a French medicine - Tadenan is 8,000 VND/capsule; and Finasterif is 34,000 VND/capsule. If we compare the treatment efficacy of Crila with these two drugs, we found the following facts: Tadenan only improves urination but does not have effect in reducing prostate size. As for Finasterif, it reduces prostate size but does not have effect in improving urination, while Crila has both these effects and with the price of 1,500 VND/capsule. This is also the first capsule in the world treating uterine fibroids for women.
According to the evaluation through subject acceptance, Dr. Pham Thanh Ky – Chairman of the Council of Science, ‘The research work is highly practical and suitable with current situation because fibroids are common diseases. The research results gave safe treatment regimen from Vietnamese pharmaceutical sources…’ The research work of Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram was granted the registration patent and utility solution, helping her to be prizewinner of 2007 Kovalevskaya Award.
Reported by Tran Thang