A local variety of Echinacea purpurea grown by the Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station could be useful in the development of a COVID-19 drug, the station said.
Swiss researchers have discovered that when used as a component in medicines, Echinacea purpurea — commonly known as the purple coneflower — showed some effectiveness in combating strains of coronavirus, station director Lee Hung-hsi (李紅曦) said on Thursday, adding that the particular variety of flower grown at the station was shown to be more effective than others.
Samples of the plant were earlier this month given to National Taiwan University Hospital to begin testing its effectiveness in combating COVID-19, she said.
Photo courtesy of the Council of Agriculture
The station began trying to propagate the plant eight years ago due to the growing international market for health food and preventive health products, Lee said.
“There are more than 1,000 medical research papers published worldwide that talk about the health benefits of the purple coneflower,” she said, adding that it was found to be effective in bolstering the immune system and reducing inflammation.
The plant is particularly effective in combating adenoviruses and coronaviruses, she said.
The annual value of the domestic market for coneflowers is estimated to be NT$30 million to NT$40 million (US$1.01 million to US$1.35 million), and that value has the potential to grow tenfold given the size of the country’s population and the scale of the market, she said.
However, the coneflowers sold in Taiwan are European and US varieties, which do not grow well in Taiwan, as they are not suited to the climate, Lee said, adding that this was part of the motivation to develop a local variety.
The local variety can produce 2,700kg per hectare, and its caffeic acid derivative content is 6.1 percent greater than that of the European and US varieties, which makes it particularly useful for scented tea and biotechnology applications, she said.
The Council of Agriculture expects the local variety to account for 90 percent of the domestic market within a year, Lee said.
During its research, the station worked with 10 different producers and several farmers to create an effective supply chain for horticulture, cultivation, post-harvest processing, extraction and product manufacturing, she said.
The station has already tested the flower’s effectiveness in 100 different holistic medicine products, and is hopeful that products using the flower’s extract can gain a foothold in the lucrative cold medicine market, Lee said.
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