With the kind, gentle face of female Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram was titled as the "savior" of women suffering from uterine fibroids and breast fibroids and men from BPH. What needs to say is that precious CRILA capsule whose author is Dr. Tram is formulated from a wild herb called “Trinh Nu Hoang Cung” - Royal Virgin in folk (its scientific name is Crinum latifolium L.).
Today, to have her joy at the 2007 Kovalevskaya Award which honors outstanding female scientists associated with the process of domesticating a wild herb and turning it into a kind of medicinal herb which can be cultivated, created proactively sustainable sources of medicinal materials to produce drugs accepted by patients with low price due to application of modern technology... During 15 years, she has endured with many bittersweets, bad and difficult things.
It was in 1990, when the daughter of Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Truong (Editor-in-chief of the famous Encyclopedic Dictionary) graduated in pharmacy, completed research project ‘Research of extracting essential oil from the herb Coleus Aromaticus Benth Labiatae to make cough syrup for children’. After the long persistent searching, she has unexpectedly found Crinum latifolium L. in Hue. This plant belongs to Rosacea family. To distinguish it, she had to wander throughout the country, be meticulous with every blade of grass and every medicinal garden.
She remembers her farther words, ‘Why does our country have to buy foreign drugs whilst we have many medicinal plants and pharmacists?’ During the time of throwing herself about Crinum latifolium L.’s bulbs, from collecting them from Hue, Nha Trang, and Da Nang to breeding them in medicinal garden in Ho Chi Minh city, using and manufacturing them, there were not few difficulties she had to encounter that easily made ordinary people give up. Her father supported her with encouraging and motivate statements: "Try to contribute to the invention", "Be patient, do not lose your heart!"
Thus, Dr. Tram’s CRILA capsule from Crinum latifolium L. was born and recognized as the first capsule in the world for uterine fibroid treatment in women. Its author has proven a fact that the bioactive substances stimulating immune system, supporting treatment for cancer, preventing angiogenesis of tumor cells and other benign tumors such as uterine fibroids and the benign prostatic hyperplasia, etc. can be found in herbs).
With her enthusiasm, this consistent female pharmacist has erased the stigma of the possibility of domesticating wild plants as sources of new stable pharmaceutical source which is unsurpassed quality to produce precious drugs with little side effects, high treatment efficacy not lower than chemically synthesized medicine. That was the reason why CRILA was titled “Good quality product for the community’s health”, and given the gold medal at the Exhibition on International and Oriental Medicine and Pharmacy.
Remember, not for a short time since CRILA was produced, there have been a lot of suspicion, prejudice to these cheap domestic medicines. Someone even posted on the internet the information like "Beware of being cheated. Fake CRILA", "Crinum latifolium L. can’t cure fibroids". In 2005, National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam announced a decision to grant the registration patent and utility solution to CRILA. In July 2007, CRILA was officially accepted by the Ministry of Health, ending painful days of the new medicine associated with this rose-loving female pharmacist.
CRILA’s treatment efficacy on fibroids is not less than that of Tadenan extracted from Prunus spinosa in Africa, while the price of CRILA is 60 percent of Tadenan’s price. This is not meaningful to only the poor patients but also promotes the will "Reduce drug import, increase drug export’ that her father, a research-addicted scientist kindled in the heart of his daughter.
Returning from Hanoi with the 2007 Kovalevskaya Award, the aspirational girl of Nghe region, perseverant girl of Trung Vuong school many years ago, and Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram today have more confidence and determination on the path of science she was pursuing for 40 years. Her little house in HCMC awaits not only a gifted scientist but also a clever hard-working homemaker. The most precious possessions in her house are heavy bookshelves. The house is where her husband, a university lecturers always shares all good things or bad things in her work and life and her obedient children was brought up and now have grown up .
"For me, happiness is to bring joy to others. I had that feeling in my science life when I busted in tears because I heard one patient taking my medicine can overcome her cancer but more luckily, she is pregnant and about to be a mother!” - A mother - scientist, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram shared.
Kim Hoa