Retroscreen Virology, a medical research institute subsidiary of Queen Mary College, University of London, yesterday announced that a medical preparation, Sambucol, developed by Israeli company Razei Bar Industries (1996) Ltd., reduced the quantity of cells infected with the avian flu virus by 99%, compared with a control group not treated with the virus.
Retroscreen Virology examined the effectiveness of Sambucol against the H5N1 strain of avian flu, and found that it was at least 99 per cent effective at reducing the virus.
Razei Bar president Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu, who developed the preparation, and her company, agreed to expand their research to examine Sambucol’s effectiveness against avian flu on a larger scale. She said that preliminary research showed that the preparation acted effectively against a variety of avian flu strains. Laboratory research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hadassah Ein Kerem campus found that Sambucol was effective against avian flu strains that attack human beings, pigs, and fowl.
Another clinical trial is current underway at Hadassah Medical Organization Ein Kerem. It is expected that this research will confirm previous findings.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on January 19, 2006