March 22, 2022 – Khon Kaen University and Miss Lily came up with the Andrographolide Nano Emulsion technology for the first time in the world. The technology will increase the efficiency of the active agent in Kariyat. The two organizations are expediting the developing of related products for selling soon.
Assoc. Prof. Charnchai Panthongviriyakul, M.D., President of Khon Kaen University said, “The spread of Covid led to expectations towards Kariyat because it has the agent called andrographolide. Today, this matter has received interest at the world level and is being developed through medical technologies. A lot of research studies in medicine overseas and Khon Kaen University also are proving its efficiency. KKU by the research and graduate study division has continuously conducted studies on the agent. Now, the work has been successful, andrographolide proves promising in the form of nano-emulsion products that will benefit all of us.”
Prof. Monchai Duangchinda, Ph.D., Vice President for Research and Graduate Study of Khon Kaen University added, “Andrographolide is in the Diterpene Lactone group, which is an important active agent found in Andrographis paniculate. Nowadays the leaves and other parts of Kariyat or Andrographis paniculate, or their extracts are produced in powder filled in capsules and sold all over the country. However, a capsule contains 1.38-3.21% of andrographolide, depending on the plantation location. As it is insoluble in water, only 2.67% of andrographolide is absorbed for body use, necessitating a 4-capsule intake / time, or 12 capsules daily, that is to say, to obtain 6,000 mg/day of the powdered medicine, which is equivalent to 60 mg/day of andrographolide.”
“The team has carried out research and development of the pure andrographolide product (>98%) using nano-emulsion technology – the first ever in the world. This increases the absorption efficiency at 6 folds. The breakthrough comes from the research and technology and will extend the manufacturing market of new health products for Thai people.”
Dr. Nopparat Intarawiset, the research leader of Miss Lily, Co. Ltd., said, “The nano-emulsion technology has been used in manufacturing a lot of products for a long time. These include cosmetics and medicine. However, andrographolide has never before been developed in this form. Nearly all research works have been on the medical benefits of powdered andrographolide. Nano emulsion in laboratories, in fact, faces a lot of difficulties, for example, uniformly downsizing the particles to less than 100 nanometers. In addition, the stability of the solution is hard to attain. The experiments require the right type and amount, while the pH value must be suitably adjusted to avoid oxidation, while acidity must be contained so that there will be no risk. Then the taste must be improved to lessen the bitterness of andrographolide so that it can be used by all age groups.”
“What is more difficult is the transfer of the laboratory production to a factory production. Many obstacles have been found, for the laboratory equipment is modernized with streamline operational efficiency. This covers both the high speed homogenizer and ultrasonic, with which the revolution can be adjusted to as high as 10,000 rpm, enabling quality and consistency laboratory production. The factory machines in Thailand in general are not able to produce the products according to the set standards. Miss Lily therefore sent an engineering team to observe the laboratory production in order to adopt it at the factory. The factory needs to modify the machine so that it could produce the products with the set standards. This is the troublesome part of the research for the market, we need connection between the research and laboratory level with factory manufacturing.”
After this, Khon Kaen University will expedite the collaboration with Miss Lily, the first e-commerce company dealing with flowers in Thailand. The goal is to develop a health product on a commercial basis. The emphasis is to create a new product that will answer consumers’ health needs. The products to be developed will be in accordance with the demand of consumers nowadays. Khon Kaen University will release more news in due course.
