UFS traditional medicine expert to test plant-based medicine on TB patients

The University of the Free State (UFS) has cemented its place as a leading institution on the continent and in the world, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2023.

The UFS emerged in the 801-1 000 range of this prestigious ranking, which includes 1 799 institutions from across 104 countries – the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

This is the UFS’ first entry in THE’s top university rankings, joining some of the world’s best universities.

The rankings assess institutions across the globe based on performance indicators such as teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.

The UFS is among the top nine South African universities on THE’s list, which was released on 12 October 2022.

The institution is ranked in the same band as the University of Pretoria and Rhodes University but is overall listed higher than both institutions, earning a coveted ninth spot among the 15 South African universities featuring in the rankings.

According to the list released by THE, the UFS further occupies the 801-1 000 band with international institutions such as Chapman University in the United States, the University of Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom, and Chengdu University in China.

The UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, welcomed the institution’s ranking.

“The outcome of THE’s World Rankings is in line with the university’s Vision 130, of which academic excellence, quality, and impact are the key principles.

“The university aims to continually participate in global ranking systems that measure the academic standing of the institution for benchmarking and visibility as well as to reflect on progress over time. Rankings provide insight that helps set our university’s trajectory for the future.”

“Vision 130 is an elaboration of the UFS’ strategic intent to reposition the institution for 2034 when the institution will commemorate its 130^th anniversary. Our goal is to be ranked by appropriate chosen global ranking systems among the top five universities in South Africa and among the top 600 globally by 2034,” says Prof Petersen.

Although this is the UFS’ first time joining the rankings, the institution received an overall score of 29.8-33.9, and ratings of 18.1 for teaching, 17.6 for research, 49.4 for citations, 40.1 for industry income, and 47.3 for international overlook. Institutions were measured across 13 separate performance categories, providing the most comprehensive report of excellence among world-class research universities. “Being part of the top 1 000 universities in the world is a positive indication that the UFS is moving in the right direction towards achieving its vision of

Paclitaxel (Taxol) from the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia), vincristine and vinblastine from the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus),” he added.

According to Prof Matsabisa – who recently gave a keynote speech on Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Health during a session at the eighth edition of the UNGA77 Science Summit around the 77th United Nations General Assembly (SSUNGA77) – there are 360 000 species of plants globally. Only 10% have been well-researched, and about 10% of those global species are indigenous to South Africa. Medicines from plants have contributed to and participated in past pandemics.

Developing medicine for malaria

Prof Matsabisa also briefly explained his work on developing medicines for malaria – a neglected Third World disease that kills more people than HIV/Aids. According to Prof Matsabisa, traditional communities in Peru, South America, have known for many years that the bark of the cinchona tree is used for fever, and it because of this bark that we still have quinine today and Chloroquine is still being prescribed for malaria.

In a similar fashion, traditional Chinese medicines also used a plant called qinghaosu or Artemisia annua, from which the current antimalarial drug, Artemisinin and its derivatives, Artesunate and Artemether, are still the mainstay of malaria treatment.

“In this regard, we worked with a plant called Dicoma anomala or hloenya in Sesotho – a common traditional medicine whose roots are widely used in traditional medicine.

I looked at the effects of the small roots and we did some extraction in the lab and tested it on the malaria-causative agent, the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. We found these extracts to be as potent as Chloroquine, the current standard antimalarial drug.” 

“Further purification of those compounds led us to identify two sesquiterpene molecules.

“These molecules were as effective as Chloroquine. The molecules and how they are extracted and later developed in a lab, have led to patents in South Africa, the United States of America, ARIPO, Nigeria, Madagascar, Europe, Tunisia, and China.”

COVID-19 and responding to it

Many of the pandemics are due to bacteria or viruses, says Prof Matsabisa, and many of the drugs for bacterial or viral infections are plant-based.

He went on to explain their multicentre-controlled clinical trial for a plant-based product, PHELA, as an immune modulator to modulate cytokine storm due to COVID-19, and also to restore and normalise the patient’s immune system

“When we applied to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) for the clinical trials, they asked if we could test PHELA on the different variants of concern in South Africa.

“We tested it on the Wuhan variant and two South African variants – the Beta variant that was responsible for the first wave, and the N5011Y.V2 variant.

“The in vitro tests showed that the traditional medicine was better suited for the South African variants of COVID-19. We could have saved lives if we had acted quickly.”

• Prof Matsabisa is the Director of the African Medicines Innovations and Technology Development Platform (AMITD) – the TIA-UFS IKS Platform, a guest professor at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine in Beijing, China, and Deputy President of the South African Society for Basic and Clinical Pharmacology.
  
  He is Chair of the WHO Regional Expert Committee on Traditional Medicines for COVID-19, a member of the Plant-Based Medicine Task Force, the Medical Therapies Commission of the ILAE, a technical expert member of the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), and a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Traditional Medicines (National Department of Health).