Patents and Research links

Various Research Articles on pau d'arco can be found at PubMed

A service of the National Library of Medicine and the National institutes of Health.

Patents obtained for Pau d'arco and its properties

U.S. Patent 5,663,197

Granted to Taheebo Japan Co., Ltd. on September 2, 1997.

The present invention relates to a novel compound possessing anti tumor activity, and an anti tumor agent comprising said compound.

U.S. Patent 5,763,625

Granted to Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation on June 9, 1998.

Lapachol (1) is a natural product known since 1858 and is the most abundant quinone found in the heartwood of several genera Bignonoceae. Its name is derived from the "lapacho" tree (Tabebuia avellanedae Lr. ex. Griseb), a tree found mainly in subtropical and tropical South America (Northern Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil). The yellow lapachol confers its color to the wood where it is sometimes visible in yellow deposits. The structure of lapachol has been known and its anti tumor properties raised considerable interest in the past, having reached the stage of clinical trials. When treated with sulfuric acid it cyclizes to .beta.-lapachone (2a), also present in the heartwood of the lapacho tree. Lapachol can also be converted into 3-bromolapachone (2b), and the latter can be converted in a two-step sequence into 3-hydroxy-.beta.-lapachone (2c). The alcohol group of 3-hydroxy-.beta.-lapachone is amenable to etherification when treated with alkyl halides in dry dimethyl sulfoxide in the presence of potassium hydroxide powder. It was found that it is possible to alkylate the 3-hydroxy residue of 3-hydroxy-.beta.-lapachone without ring opening of the .beta.-lapachone structure by avoiding alkaline reaction media which are usually necessary in etherification or esterification procedures. It was thus possible to obtain methyl, benzyl, and allyl ethers (2d) of 3-hydroxy-.beta.-lapachone, as well as .beta.-ethoxycarbonyl derivatives (See Synthesis 1). In synthesis 1 and 2 R is as previously defined herein. What makes this approach attractive is that lapachol is a relatively abundant natural product. In the heartwood of the abundant South American lapacho tree, its content varies between 3% (in subtropical South America) to 7% (in tropical South America). These values should be compared with those for camptothecin (0.01% in the stem wood of C. accuminata) or in taxol (0.02% in the bark of the American western yew).

More U.S. Patents can be found by clicking here.

Japan Patent 2,669,762

Taiwan Patent 092054

China Patent 092054

Granted to Taheebo Japan Co., Lted., Shinichi Ueda on July 4, 1997 (Japan) and April 30, 1998 (Taiwan, China).

Ingredients of natural bark tea TAHEEBO contain various useful elements. One of them is naphthofuran dione (NFD), a component of quinine, a coloring agent. NFD is known to play an effective role in maintaining people's health. A research team of Taheebo Japan has confirmed that NFD can only be found in the inner layer of the bark of Taheebo trees. NFD has been patented in the USA, Japan and Chinese Taipei. In Japan, Taheebo Japan Co., Ltd. holds its patent and TAHEEBO is the only natural bark tea containing NFD.

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