Malaria, Coronavirus Treatment & Pao Pereira

With the announcement by the Wall Street Journal, that an old anti-malaria drug could be effective coronavirus treatment, everybody is re-discovering this disease, which has been for centuries, probably the most serious health problem facing northern Amazonia. Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite of the genus Plasmodium transmitted to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes. People who have the disease usually have a high fever and shaking chills. Despite an 18% global decrease in incidences of malaria between 2010 and 2017, an estimated 3.4 billion people in 92 countries are at risk of being infected with malaria and developing the disease. The disease is often fatal, especially considering that the disease is preponderant where access to good quality medicines including malaria drugs is highly uneven. Now doctors and hospitals are testing a seventy year old antimalarial drugs on patients infected with the new coronavirus. It all started with a declaration on March 16 from Dr. Didier Raoult, director of a University Hospital Institute in Marseille, France’s second city, regarding the successful testing of hydroxychloroquine for use as a coronavirus treatment. Hydroxychloroquine has been used for around 70 years to treat malaria, and its patent has long expired. A new patent would provide a new commercial life to this old molecule. In a press conference, Dr. Raoult presented the results of a clinical trial in which he treated 25 COVID-19 patients with this drug. “After six days,” he said, “only 25 percent of patients who took this drug still had the virus in their body. By contrast, 90 percent of those who had not taken hydroxychloroquine continued to carry the COVID-19.”

In light of the long record of use of hydroxychloroquine against Malaria, it is very tempting to jump ahead and claim that we have a cure against the coronavirus. Not so fast! “We may have the right drug, but it might not be in the appropriate dosage form right now, and it might do more harm than good,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, speaking at a press briefing with the president and other officials.

Indeed, dosage and toxicity issues, along with side effects, are quite common with drugs. Not so much with natural extracts. And it so happens that the stem bark of Geissospermum vellosii, common name: Pao pereira, has been used for centuries by the native population of northern South America to treat malaria. A few years ago, I devoted an entire blog to the subject of the traditional use of Pao pereira. In 1879, the journal Medical Times (Vol. X p. 276 – Philadelphia) published a two-page article devoted to the very satisfactory results obtained with the use of Pao pereira and quoting Dr. Torres Homem, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Academy of Rio de Janeiro “There is not a doctor in Brazil who has not obtained good results from the use of this bark in the treatment of intermittent fevers.” In 1887, in “le Journal de Médecine, de Chirurgie et de Phamacologie” (Bruxelles) published in “Nouveaux remèdes” the following note: “the alkaloid pereirine would be more effective than quinine against malarial fevers.” Since then, Pao pereira, has been extensively studied by French scientist Mirko Beljanski for its anti-cancer and anti-viral properties. Nowadays, the Pao pereira extract is available as a dietary supplement and The Beljanski Foundation has developed numerous scientific partnerships with several scientific institution confirming the activity of the extract on different cancer cell lines including prostate, ovaries, and pancreas, and even on cancer stem cells, linked to metastasis. Stay home, stay safe & stay healthy, Sylvie Beljanski Vice President, The Beljanski Foundation