Introduction: Cow's urine could make anti-cancer drugs more effective
For centuries, Indian medicine has been using cow's urine as an active ingredient in many preparations. Giving further credence to its efficacy is a US patent for an Indian product which contains distilled portions of cow's urine.
Chemicals in this distilled portion, popularly known as Arka, enhance the activity of antibiotics and anti-cancer agents. Developed by a team of scientists at Lucknow's Centre for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants affiliated to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, it helps reduce the dosage of the drug, its side-effects and the cost of treatment.
Research started after Suman Preet Singh Khanuja, a scientist specialising in genetics and biotechnology joined the centre. Its thrust area of research has been plants of medicinal or aromatic value. Many plants with therapeutic properties have secondary metabolites that fight toxic substances.
But these metabolites accumulate in plant tissues in minor quantities only. "For instance, a plant species like Himalayan Yew (Taxus wallichiana) produces a compound called paclitaxel, marketed as taxol," says Khanuja. "This has very high value as an anti-cancer compound. But it is produced in low amounts in the bark of the tree. If you cut the bark the tree will die. This means that for one person's chemotherapy itself many trees will have to be cut down. So we worked on chemical enhancers that increase the efficacy of plant-based therapeutical molecules."
The team, called Bio-Cross section, of four scientists apart from Khanuja and research scholars working under them, studied the ancient Ayurvedic texts Shushrut Samhita and Ashtanga Samgraha. "The idea is to subject this traditional knowledge to modern scientific rigour," says Khanuja. "This can lead to scientific validation of existing knowledge or even new discoveries."
The two ancient texts provide information about various combinations of natural substances. "In these texts, cow's urine (go mutra) is mentioned as an animal secretion with therapeutic properties. It proves that humans have been consuming it," says Khanuja.
It is then that the team heard of Go Vigyan Anusandhan Kendra, an organisation run by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Nagpur. "One of the products they sell is a distillate of go mutra called Arka," says Khanuja. Initial research on the distillate showed it could enhance the effects of a drug. "So we broke the distillate into its various components. One of the fractionsÑthe fourth fractionÑenhanced the anti-cancer drug taxol and anti-tuberculosis drug rifampicin."
The US Patent and Trade Office has granted a patent (number 6410059) to Khanuja's team for the pharmaceutical composition containing cow's urine distillate and an antibiotic (which can be anything from an antifungal agent to anti-cancer drug). The patent report says: 'The invention relates to an absolutely novel use of cow urine distillate as activity enhancer and availability facilitator for bioactive molecules including anti-infective and anti-cancer agents.'
"Our effort was to search for a
plentifully available material with bioenhancing action of high potency.
Cow's urine fits the bill," says Khanuja. However, he warns that it is
not yet time to rejoice. "It is only the beginning," he says. "Now it is
important to characterise and isolate from these fractions the active components
that enhance action."