Plandai Biotechnology could offer anti-viral protection with Phytofare Catechin Complex entrapped in Pheroid

Published: 21-Nov-2014

By using the company's live plant material extraction process, all eight of the green tea plant's catechins were present in the bloodstream


Researchers at the Baylor School of Medicine and at Texas Children's Hospital in the US have shown the ability of catechins to prevent binding of a virus protein to the white blood cells, but to be effective it requires a very high dosage and a catechin with higher bioavailability (or absorption).

Because generic green tea extracts cannot deliver enough of the catechins into the bloodstream and then get them absorbed by the white blood cells, the true effectiveness of catechins in preventing or treating viruses is not known.

Plandaí Biotechnology's green tea-based Phytofare Catechin Complex has already shown in a clinical trial performed at North West University in South Africa that it offers ten times greater bioavailability than a commercially available green tea extract.

The Seattle, US-based company is now testing its product further by enhancing it with the Pheroid delivery system, which has been shown to enhance the absorption of various pharmacological compounds and biological molecules. And this is where Plandaí's green tea extract could potentially offer hope as an anti-viral protection solution.

Pheroid technology should allow the company to get its Phytofare extract to the target cells intact and potentially provide a simple and natural anti-viral solution

According to Professor Anne Grobler of North West University, who conducted the company's clinical trial, Plandaí's product showed that by using the company's extraction process, which uses live plant material, all eight of the green tea plant's catechins, including EGCG, were present in the bloodstream, compared with only two catechins detected in the bloodstream when the commercial extract was tested.

The trial also found that when using the company's technology, absorption of those catechins was five times greater, and the lifespan of the catechin's molecules in the bloodstream was doubled in Phytofare when compared with the commercial green tea extract.

With the use of Pheroid technology, Plandaí could now offer an even more potent solution. This technology is an encapsulation or entrapment technology that encases the target material inside a long-chain fatty acid.

In the case of many infectious diseases, the target cells (white blood cells) perceive the fatty acid as food and allow the Pheroid to pass through the cell membrane, which greatly enhances absorption. The fatty acid also protects the entrapped material from damage and metabolisation as it passes through the gastro-intestinal tract.

This means that the Pheroid technology should allow the company to get its Phytofare extract to the target cells intact and potentially provide a simple, affordable and natural anti-viral solution.

You may also like