Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture recently obtained a patent for three eucalyptus-derived products with antiviral properties, which have been widely claimed to be an antidote to COVID-19.
The patented products come in the form of an inhaler, balsam, and diffuser oil.
The announcement on the patent was made together with the signing of an agreement on license for eucalyptus oil-based antiviral formula with PT Eagle Indo Pharma — Indonesia’s leading manufacturer of products in cajuput oil, balm, and ointment.
The Agricultural Research and Development Agency, an arm of the Agriculture Ministry, has been testing numerous essential oils, including one sourced from the eucalyptus plant, seeing as the oils have been used as alternate medicines by Indonesians for decades.
“The products will be tested for effectiveness so that mass-production can start immediately and [the products] will be available to the public soon,” said the agency on Monday (18 May), adding that its partner will manufacture the products under the agency’s supervision.
The research on the eucalyptus-based products, which was conducted in a Biosafety Level 3 lab using the molecular docking test and in-vitro test, found that 1.8-cineole from eucalyptus oil — known as eucalyptol — has the potential to kill 80 per cent to 100 per cent of viruses such as avian flu and coronavirus.
While Jakarta-based Eijkman Molecular Biology Institute confirmed that eucalyptus has long been used as herbal medicine in Indonesia, it stressed that these products cannot be categorised as a drug that can treat certain diseases.
“As far as I know, BPOM－the Indonesian Food and Drug Agency－has stipulated that herbal medicines [and] traditional medicines cannot be claimed to treat a disease,” the head of Eijkman Molecular Biology Institute Professor Amin Soebandrio told Detik on Tuesday (19 May 2020).
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