An open label clinical study evaluating the effectiveness of a cryptolepis sanguinolenta based herbal antimalarial agent

Abstract

Medicinal plants are key in the treatment of malaria in many developing countries. This study reports on the effectiveness of Mist Nibima, a Ghanaian herbal product from the Centre for Plant Medicine Research, Mampong-Akuapem. The product is a proprietary remedy prepared from the roots of Cryptolepis sanguinolenta. A non-comparative open label study was undertaken involving 33 subjects diagnosed with uncomplicated malaria. Mean parasitaemia at baseline was 3454 (± 2507) declining to64.11 (± 66.16) after 7 days. In terms of the achievement of the primary outcome, 24 (72.72%) subjects had total parasite clearance with the other 9 (27.27%) attaining partial clearance by Day 7. No treatment failure and parasite recrudescence was also observed among the study subjects. The product Mist Nibima was also well tolerated and shown to safe as biochemical and haematological indices were normal post treatment. Cryptolepis sanguinolenta and herbal products formulated from the plant may therefore hold some potential for use as first-line antimalarial agents