NEW DELHI: India has for the first time ever managed to foil a bio-piracy bid in a record three weeks
time.
Thanks to the recently created Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), which has till now completed documenting over two lakh medical formulations of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani to save them from piracy, the European Patent Office (EPO) has canceled its earlier “intent to grant patent” order to a Spanish company on the use of melon extract to cure vitiligo (leucoderma) — a disease that causes skin de-pigmentation to almost 65 million people globally.
Interestingly, under India’s ancient Unani system of medicine, hakeems have for hundreds of years been using melon extract to cure this disease. Michael Jackson was probably the world’s most famous vitiligo patient.
After studying India’s documents available in the TKDL which confirmed “evidence of prior art”, the EPO has decided against granting patent for the anti-vitiligo cream to the Spanish company Perdix group SL.
Earlier patent related challenges made by India lasted years. Among the most famous were the patent application over neem’s anti-fungal properties which took India 10 years to revoke, the patent application on the wound healing properties of turmeric which took three years, and that of Basmati rice against an US-based company which took well over a year.
A Union health ministry official told TOI, “This is a major victory for us. The TKDL, which has documented and translated knowledge of traditional Indian medicines from Hindi, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Tamil to five international languages — English, Japanese, French, German and Spanish — will greatly help in fighting foreign companies and countries from claiming patents over information and practices already available in India.”
It took eight years to create the TKDL.
In order to confirm EPO’s order, TOI scanned through its website and found that application number EP1747786 titled, “Natural product in cream with anti-vitiligo (leucoderma) therapeutic properties”, was filed by Perdix Euro group SL, Spain, in July 2006.
The patent was for a cream that uses vegetal ingredients such as melon, bay rum and lemon, which when employed on the white patches resulted in regeneration of melanocytes.
EPO decided to grant the Spanish company patent for its cream on June 4, 2009.
On July 8, 2009, India provided evidence to EPO — books like Quarabadeen Najmul Ghani, Khazain-al-Adviyah and Muheet-e-Azam by Indian hakeems Mohammad Najmul Ghani Khan and Mohammad Azam Khan — that extensively talked about melon’s anti-vitiligo properties and how it has been used here for over 1,200 years. On July 27, EPO cancelled its intention to grant patent to the Spanish company.
Treatment options for vitiligo are presently limited. Current day options include phototherapy which needs to be administered for three days every week for three years to achieve even partial pigmentation — that too in only 30% of the patients.
Ministry officials said, “However in phototherapy, even normal areas suffer unnecessary UV exposure. Instead, under the Unani system, which uses a paste of the peel of the melon skin, cures only those parts affected by vitiligo.”
They added, “Most of us don’t believe in India’s traditional medicines. This will prove how India’s traditional knowledge is of such great demand across the world and is tried and tested.”
reprinted from India foils Spanish company’s bid to get patent for vitiligo cure
Kounteya Sinha, TNN 17 September 2009, 02:41am IST
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/India-foils-Spanish-companys-bid-to-get-patent-for-vitiligo-cure/articleshow/5019436.cms
hi nathalie..
sorry fr the longg gap….had been busy…cld u send me ur id..i wanted to send sm pics..
thnx..
Dear Kris,
Its not melon, it must be a melanin, Melanin is a name of the cell in our body which give pigment (colour) to our skin.
So dont get confuse with melon because melon is a fruit and melanin is a name of the cell in our body.
Well many Ayurveda doctors gives medicine which promotes melanin cell in our body. But I have no idea what particular cream or medicine you are talking about??
recently india thwarted the attempt of a spanish company to patent melon extract cream for treatment of vitiligo….is this cream available in the market..pls let me lnow..and also wat type of melon are we talking about here..watermelon..or muskmelon…are ayurvedic doctors using this method …please let me know the address of any such gud doctor who is practising such traditional method.
i’m 38 years old and since I remember had vitiligo at first it were a small white parches on mhy knees, armpits and my stomach but with the years passed by it have been spreading over my body.causing me to depress very often for my aparience. So please if you know how can I stop or reverse the skin color let me know.
Well I dnt think so that its good to have vitiligo anywhere on the body, though I agree that if it appears on face then the situation is even more worse, as far as mental fear is concern.
But I want to get cured at any cost, as I was so normal before 24 years of age and for last one and a half years I am just fed up. I want to live a normal life like others. Please tell me what to do.
Is Ayurveda have any answer to this deasease and also tell me, as when I apply vitiligo lotion to the affected areas and sitting under the sun is helpful or not??
I wish and hope that someone can find cure for this deasease and bring back the smile on the face of affected people.
Hi my name is Tarun and i have vitiligo for last one and a half years and my age is now 25 years. I am extremely tense and worried about this deasease. I have tried allopathic treatment but no result and now i have switched over to Ayurvedic Treatment for last 4 months, but there is not yet positive result seen.
I am unmarried and i am extremely tense about this deasease, I am so consious about my looks and now this deasease is making my life hell. I have most of the white patches on my legs and it is round white patches and most of the patches are small in size.
Can anyone guide what to do and also is Ayurveda Cures this deasease and also please tell me, is sitting under sun in the morning hours helful??
I am waiting for your suggestion. Thanks……….Tarun
hi…
In my opinion the concept of drinking water from copper vessel does make changes inside you.moreover its taste also gets changed.
one should try it for once then only he will understand.
i’ve vitiligo for the past 10 yrs.
but i’m not satisfied with my medicines,they just simply remove my upper layer of defected skin.
The area of white patches remains the same.
if someone have some advice or tips then please help me.
WAITING FOR SUNSHINE!!!!!!
All,
I have vitiligo for th past 28 years and I have tried Unani medicine for around 6-8 years. Back than there was no mention of Melon extract but they did ask me to apply neem/eucalyptus oil and expose the vitiligo parts to sunlight.
Regarding the diet lot of food items are restricted like milk,cheese,beef,lime,lemon,orange(basically all types of vitamin c), banana,eggs,tamarind.
I was eating only certain foods like chicken,lamb,chick peas, mango(sweet variety), okra,beans,melon.
I am positive Melon was included in the diet.
The concept of drinking water from copper glass doesn’t make sense to me as it still will be H2O.
I will try to find out more on this melon cream and I will try to apply if any of you can tell me where I can get it or if you have more information on this please let me know.
Regards,
V
Meenakshi,
where did you get this idea? Have you tried it? and finally, if you have and it ‘cured’ your vitiligo, forward photos to me so we can see the actual results. cheers.
NOTE: Dearest readers, As administrator of this site I do read each comment and if it touts a cure I ask for photo’s of the results, so we can be sure that it does indeed work before you try it. To date, no one has ever submitted photo’s of their positive results. We are all in search of a cure for vitiligo, but please, do not rush into trying every idea suggested in the comments. Your physical safety is of the utmost importance, so always be very cautious and ask questions before trying anything.
have u tried it???
store water overnight in a copper glass and drink it first thing in the morning,is supposed to be good in the treatment of Vitiligo.
Hello Nathalie,
Thanks for the prompt reply and for running this forum for people having
vitiligo. We are from India. My daughter (Mrudula who is also registered here) has vitiligo on her fingers and feet since three years. She is quite inspired when she reads many of the success stories that are published here.
We have tried Unani for a year, as it has lot of food restrictions (My daughter loves Water melon which is her favourite fruit, unani does not permit eating it) and the results were not encouraging so we stopped and switched over to ayurveda medicine from Patanjali (Baba Ramdev whose teachings are spread worldwide on the subject of healthy living by doing Yoga & breathing exercises). With this there is some improvement however it is very slow.Ayurveda also has some food restrictions like avoiding sour food, milk and milk products etc. I have substituted soya milk in place of dairy milk. any other suggesions in this line are welcome. I would do a google on the water melon peel and Unani medicine topic and come back to you. Thanks once again.
Bye
Sharada
Hi Sharada,
I wish I could guide you more, but the article is a reprint, and the info contained was gathered by a third party. However, it is from an Indian newspaper, so I would hope their information about the Unani system and Ayurveda practice, is accurate.
cheers
nathalie
Dear friends,
“under the Unani system, which uses a paste of the peel of the melon skin, cures only those parts affected by vitiligo.”
Eating water melon is prohibited if one is taking the medicine for vitiligo Under the same Unani system, please correct me if I am wrong. A series of food items are shown as contraindicative like citrus fruits, water melon, pumpkin, brinjal, ladies finger, milk and milk products etc are some of them. Same thing is followed in Ayurveda practice of medication for vitiligo, however water melon and pumpkin are not indicated there. Please clarify if this is true.
sharada