A private-public collaboration has successfully produced the first herbal food supplement for dengue in the country.

Medicinal plant company Herbanext Laboratories Inc. (HLI) developed the tawa-tawa (Euphorbia hirta) tablet and drink mix to help relieve dengue symptoms through the Department of Science and Technology’s Tuklas Lunas program, which funded HLI’s research and development on the herb that commonly grows in farmlands.

In a media forum in Pasig City, HLI president Philip Cruz said that tawa-tawa is really not that new as a medicine as rural folks use the plant to treat fever.

“It’s well documented that many household use it so we decided to make the first serious work on it,” Cruz said.

Cruz said herbal products do not have therapeutic claims “but we know from the research that it (tawa-tawa) really works.”

Cruz said HLI extracts the organic acid from the leaves and fiber of tawa-tawa to make a concentrate that can be taken easily.

He touted the commercial potential of the product.

“We have unique sources and we don’t have rivals,” he said.

Cruz added that “Tuklas Lunas” has a marketing component that helps promote herbal products internationally.

“I couldn’t ask for more (from DoST),” he said.

However, one of the challenges in promoting the tawa-tawa product is that nobody seems to be looking for it when there is no dengue outbreak.

Another challenge is that pharmaceutical companies have difficulty in selling the herbal products because of the absence of “claims” for its efficacy.

HLI is now expanding the market by exploring other applications of the herbal medicine.

Every million Filipinos who use herbal products can generate at least 5,000 farming jobs that pays P10,000.

Meanwhile, Cruz said, “It’s very important to protect our forests, for biodiversity.”

The HLI president cited other local herbs with medicinal potential such as banaba, sulasi, balbas pusa, mangosteen and sinta, which he said “is very effective for high blood and upper respiratory infection.”

“We have many natural resources here that can help us. We need to develop it, market it,” he said.

Cruz also said there is a bigger picture in herbal medicine innovation.

“We are helping the farmers, we are protecting the environment,” he said.