Finding a medicinal plant to cure cancer, doing everything possible to bring the medicines to patient’s, etc., Dr. Tram not only followed the impulse in her heart, but also met the expectation that his father set on her when she was still a little girl “In the future, you definitely have to find new medicines from Vietnamese herbal plants”.
The hereditary passion for science
With a deep warm voice, a kind face, we can see the generosity from Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram which has been usually seen in mothers and grandmothers. However, when it comes to her father, the expression in eyes of this 67-year-old woman immediately become as young as a little girl, listening to her father cooing and talking. Her father is Prof. Dr. in Science Nguyen Van Truong - Former Director of Institute of Ecological Economics, Editor-in-chief of Vietnamese Encyclopedia
In the sunlit room with the shade of green leaves shining through the glass windows, with the face turning dreamy, Dr. Tram told about her childhood. “My father nurtured my national pride and love for science with his stories about scientists, especially the Russian female mathematician - Kovalevskaia”, she said. Years later, the daughter of Prof. Truong was awarded the prized named after this mathematician.
Looking back on her whole life with pharmacy profession, Dr. Tram realized it seems that this career was predetermined from the message of her father. Early seeing the trend of developing herbal medicines of the world medicine, Prof. Truong repeatedly said to her first daughter, “In the future, I definitely have to find new medicines from Vietnamese plants since there are many varieties of medicinal herbs in our country. So, don’t let our people depend on foreign countries”.
Therefore, while many other young people entered the university with the thought of just studying without future plan, the student Ms. Ngoc Tram already knew what she was aiming for: researching and producing herbal medicines.
Fate with Crinum latifolium L.
Graduated from Hanoi University of Pharmacy in 1972, in 1984, she passed the national entrance exam and was sent to Bulgaria to do a doctoral thesis with a research topic on essential oil from Vietnamese cardamon. Thanks to excellent results, she was retained at Sofia University of Chemistry. Dr. Tram recalled her youthful enthusiasm in the foreign country “During the days in Bulgaria, every early morning when people around aren’t awake, I started to work. Every night, I did not leave the laboratory until 12 o'clock. Many nights, I woke up between sleep when coming up with an idea, I had to note it down for fear of forgetting. Even when cooking, I keep doing with my hands, but thinking about the problem I'm researching”.
During her research years in Bulgaria, Dr. Tram joined a research team on medicinal plants in Asia countries for cancer treatment. During the summer vacation in 1987, she discovered Crinum latifolium L. plant in Hue and decided to bring this medicinal plant to Bulgaria for studying and screening. The results showed that this medicinal plant has effects on both benign and malignant tumors. In 1991, after successfully defending her doctorate at Sofia University of Chemistry, she got a PhD in chemistry and was an expert in pharmacy, which facilitated for her to study this medicinal plant. In 1992, Dr. Tram returned to Vietnam and worked at Phytopharma company. After two years, she was appointed to be the Director of the Crina Pharmaceutical Research and Development Center, directly under Phytopharma company. Crinum latifolium L. plant, which she discovered, is a new “varieties” of Crinum latifolium L. species, but with superior medicinal properties. This “varieties” was named “Trinh nu Crila” (Crinum latifolium L. var. crilae Tram & Khanh), which is used to manufacture Crila medicine.
In the 1990s, the information about science is still modest. In addition, Crinum latifolium L. was a new medicinal plant, so there were almost no documents on it. Plus poor machinery, Dr. Tram had to regularly send samples to Bulgaria for research. She remembers the feeling of joy with tears when a partner called and said “Tram, come and see, there is a bunch of thriving T lymphocytes on the microscope”. This good news proved that Crinum latifolium L. can be raw materials to extract active ingredients with immunostimulating effect to treat cancer”.
However, in order to come to the conclusion, Dr. Tram also underwent many research steps. Prof. Dr. Le Mai Huong - Former Deputy Director of Institute of Natural Products Chemistry said “Dr. Tram is very careful. Every time she sends samples, she also checks the accuracy of each sample closely and follow up the detailed results. Once, Dr. Tram tested cancer cells in a Vietnam laboratory and obtained pretty good results, but she still sent the sample to Austria, Bulgaria, and France to check it again to be completely reliable”.
The results of drasticism
Realizing the effect of Trinh nu Crila plant (Crinum latifolium L. var. crilae Tram & Khanh) is one thing, but turning plant into medicine and bringing the medicine to users is a difficult journey that if we didn’t perform drastically, it will not be able to reach the destination. At the beginning of introducing Crila medicine formulated from this medicinal plant, Dr. Tram had to face many doubts. A doctor declared “If it can cure uterine fibroids, it must only be an elixir. Even the US and other countries can't do it, how can Vietnam do it?”
Knowing that without finding a way to prove its effecacies, her own capsule cannot be born, Dr. Tram collected all her savings, and borrowed money from everywhere so that Crila could be clinically tested. When the results showed that its treatment efficacy on benign prostatic hyperplasia and uterine fibroids was 89.18% and 79.5%, respectively, the colleagues admitted it was indeed “an elixir”.
In spite of highly appreciated for practicality, this work still could not find an enterprise to transfer the technology. Unwilling to let her products only exist on paper, Dr. Tram continued hurriedly to borrow money and was supported by Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development - District 5 branch. Although the amount was not large, it had helped Dr. Tram a lot as the old people said “the first step is the hardest”. At first, she bought a tea-making machine to produce and sell Crinum latifolium L. teabag, but she still could not afford to invest, so she finally decided to sell her house in 49 Lac Trung street, Hanoi. Thus, Crila capsule was born.
Putting no emphasis on business, the biggest thing she received is the gratitude of patients through their letters of thank. “After 2 months of taking Crila, my prostate tumor decreased by 40%. Words can’t express my gratitude to Ms. Tram. Thank you, who has an open heart, without a bit of thought about loss and gain,” wrote Mr. Doan Tran Van in Hanoi.
Still uneasy about the dangers of cancer lurking in each family’s meals, Dr. Tram has been absorbedly researching and testing the medicines to support the treatment of liver, prostate, lung cancer and brain tumors. Also, this medicine is invented by her from the Vietnamese herbal plant – Trinh nu Crila (Crinum latifolium L. var. crilae Tram & Khanh).
Le Hang
Quote: “I like to produce real products with high quality, price suitable for Vietnamese people and the world. I do not set a business goal, so I keep the price close to the production price”- Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram.
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