American Botanical Council Celebrates Adoption of Sceletium by HG&H Pharmaceuticals
AUSTIN, Texas (February 18, 2016) — South Africa-based HG&H Pharmaceuticals continues to support the American Botanical Council’s (ABC’s) Adopt-an-Herb program. By adopting the South African herb sceletium, HG&H is helping ABC keep its unique HerbMedPro database updated with the latest scientific and clinical research on this traditional herb, the extract of which has shown potential for treating anxiety and improving cognitive function.
HerbMedPro is a comprehensive, interactive online database that provides access to important scientific and clinical research data on the uses and health effects of approximately 250 herbs.
“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.”
About Sceletium
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.
Sceletium’s adoption page in ABC’s HerbMedPro database can be found here; the HerbMedPro record on sceletium is available here.
About HG&H Pharmaceuticals
Founded in 2006 by Nigel Gericke, MBBCh, and Deon Hofmeyr, HG&H Pharmaceuticals uses a rigorous evidence-based approach to scientifically and medically validate the safety, efficacy, and quality of Zembrin. HG&H was the first company to be granted an integrated export and bioprospecting permit from the South African government. And Zembrin is the only sceletium product on the market endorsed by the South African San Council because of a formal benefit-sharing agreement between the company and the tribe.
About Adopt-an-Herb and HerbMedPro
HG&H Pharmaceuticals is one of 35 companies that have supported ABC’s educational efforts to collect, organize, and disseminate reliable, traditional, science-based, and clinical information on herbs, medicinal plants, and other botanical- and fungal-based ingredients through the Adopt-an-Herb program. This program encourages companies, organizations, and individuals to “adopt” one or more specific herbs for inclusion and ongoing maintenance in the HerbMedPro database. To date, 40 herbs have been adopted.
Each adopted herb is continuously researched for new articles and studies, ensuring that its HerbMedPro record stays current and robust. The result is an unparalleled resource not only for researchers, health professionals, industry, and consumers, but for all members of the herbal and dietary supplements community.
HerbMedPro is available to ABC members at the Academic level and higher. Its “sister” site, HerbMed, is free and available to the general public. In keeping with the ABC’s position as an independent research and education organization, herb adopters do not influence the scientific information that is compiled for their respective adopted herbs.