On July 21, 2005 the Ministry of Health officially allowed Crila extracted from “Royal Virgin” (Crinum latifolium L.) leaves for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and uterine fibroids for nationwide circulation. It takes 15 years to make the advent of this product.
Secret witness
In 2000, I went to visit Crinum latifolium L. plantation, Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram told me, ‘You are the first journalist I allow to see Crinum latifolium L. garden. I want you to know…in advance because now it is still in “secret stage”’ (!). Then she explained, in general, ‘It is hard to distinguish Crinum latifolium L. from plants looking like it. To have this true Crinum latifolium L. garden, I had to look for them painstakingly in many regions of Vietnam, bring them here to serve my research project on the treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and uterine fibroids ... I have been still studying so I should be careful.’

The plantation tucking away in a corner in Long Thanh - Dong Nai province was surrounded by rows of eucalyptus and bamboos. Greenish Crinum latifolium L. plants were lined straight into bed. Every day, each group of workers diligently weeds and tends each leaves...

At the end of day, she took me to see separate gardens whose plants look outwardly identical to Crinum latifolium L. that I had photographed in the morning but she said they were not Crinum latifolium L.... She thoroughly instructed me the characteristics to distinguish these fake Crinum latifolium L. plants.

Only a few months later, I was invited attend the official acceptance meeting for the project at ministry level “Research of accomplishment of total Alkaloid - extraction technology process from Crinum latilfolium L. leaves used as raw materials producing medicine for treating BPH and uterine fibroids” presided by the Council of Science and Technology - the Ministry of Health.

On that day, the narrow meeting room of the National phytopharma company No.2 (now it is National phytopharma joint-stock company No.2) on Nguyen Thi Nghia street (District 1) became more cramped as welcoming professors and officials of the Ministry of Health from Hanoi and other guests.

However, after a day of hard work with critical remarks and speeches of reputable guests such as Dr. Nguyen Thanh Hong, Director of Institute of Chemical Technology, Chairman of acceptance board, and Prof. Dr. Do Tat Loi - who is considered the “King” of Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry, etc. 9 members of the board, including one alternative member (on behalf of an absent one) balloted with 9 ayes, officially tested and accepted with conclusions: Suggest the project should be officially approved at ministry level….

Journey of overcoming “firewall”

Owing to the fact that, in Vietnam, greedy Kings took a plenty of beautiful girls into their palace, but many royal virgins did not attract Kings’ attention so they were prone to some gynecological diseases...Royal physicians used a medicinal plant to treat virgins’ diseases. That plant was later called “Royal Virgin”. People have long been using it to treat diseases that today we call breast tumors, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids in women, and BPH in men, etc.

On that basis, since 1990, Dr. in Chemistry Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram has learned from royal physicians’ experiences, then collected Crinum latifolium L. bulbs from Hue-ancient capital, Da Nang, and Nha Trang, domesticated them in HCMC and formulated in the form of tea that was circulated nationwide by National phytopharma company No.2... According to users’ feedback, its results are very positive, uterine fibroids were lessened or even disappeared.

However, formulating a more highly active medicine that can cure diseases, cheap without side effects like European or American medicine with chemotherapy, radiation therapy has to rely on today modern research methods..., which is a “firewall” that Dr. in chemistry Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram could not overcome easily.

But as a scientist full of talent and courage, Dr. Ngoc Tram just both did basic research in Vietnam and cooperated her subject with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences where formerly she defended her chemical doctoral thesis in 1985. Thanks to modern equipment in Bulgaria, Dr. Ngoc Tram and her overseas colleagues could extract bioactive compounds against the growth of tumor cells.

Extracts of plants used as raw materials producing medicine for tumors only exist in tropical countries, in which Vietnam are predominant. Blackthorn in Africa cannot be compared with Vietnamese Crinum latifolium L. Nowadays, fibroid diseases are more and more common so that information about Crinum latifolium L. has attracted scientists in researching and created a period of intricate information about Crinum latifolium L. research in the 90s to such an extent that Do Tat Loi had to speak out in 1998! 

In the fine morning late 2001, according to the appointment, I waited for Dr. Tram to secretly visit the factory that processes preliminarily Crinum latifolium L. leaves used as raw materials to produce Crinum latifolium L. tea, but then a phone call came. Dr. Tram said that she had to fly immediately to Bulgaria to welcome Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and the Vietnamese Government with the Vietnamese community there. Our Ambassador said Dr. Ngoc Tram would have to report to the Prime Minister on her subject of scientific research cooperation with Bulgarian co-workers...

After that trip to Bulgaria in 2001, Dr. Tram showed me a picture (above) of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and his wife, her and two comrades of Vietnamese Embassy in Bulgaria which an official of the Prime Minister gifted her after she had came back home. At the bottom of the picture, there is a red mark entitled “The gift from Prime Minister Phan Van Khai”. When I asked Dr. Tram how the Prime Minister commented on her Crinum latifolium L.’s subject, she answered, “After hearing my report, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai was very pleased, and he said that at the upcoming ASEAN summit conference, he would address the issue of traditional medicine in combination with modern medicine…”

Now, Dr. Tram has publicly invited journalists to tour around Crinum latifolium L. plantation in Long Thanh, where just only I was allowed to visit five years ago.

Currently, every three days at Pharmaceutical CRINA Centre, under the National Phytopharma joint-stock company No.2 released 1,000,000 Crila capsules, which is “the beginning modest number” as she said.

Now I understand that Dr. Tram would like me to witness to her serious work because it is necessary for science when genuine and fake products are in a tumble...