“ABC is deeply grateful to HG&H Pharmaceuticals and our good friend Dr. Nigel Gericke in South Africa for their support of ABC by ensuring that we are able to keep up with new research on this emerging herb,” said Mark Blumenthal, ABC founder and executive director.
“The company is approaching the creation of a new phytomedicine from a traditional herb in an admirable manner, using sustainable sources of supply, creating benefit-sharing agreements with indigenous peoples, and subjecting their extract to human clinical trials to document safety and efficacy.”
The adoption helps ABC maintain its information-rich HerbMedPro database, keeping it up-to-date with the latest scientific and clinical research on this traditional herb on which a growing body of modern scientific and clinical research documents potential health benefits.
HerbMedPro is a comprehensive interactive database available on ABC’s website that provides access to important scientific and clinical research data underlying the use of approximately 250 herbs and their effects on human health.
Sceletium tortuosum is a perennial in the ice plant family (Aizoaceae). The indigenous San and Khoikhoi peoples were the first to discover the plant’s medicinal benefits, while Europeans later used it to make a psychotropic tincture, i.e., an extract used to affect mental and/or emotional activity.
Also known by its local name kanna, sceletium has been used in traditional South African medicine to relieve thirst, hunger, and fatigue, to elevate mood, and as a sedative. Most recent scientific research and human clinical trials on sceletium have focused on the anxiety-reducing and mood-enhancing effects of Zembrin, a proprietary sceletium extract produced by HG&H.