Dr Henry Lowe’s Covid drug

PHOTO: JIS PHOTOGRAPHER - 2017

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness (right), is warmly greeted by Eden Gardens Group of Companies Executive Chairman, Dr. Henry Lowe, on arrival at the Eden Gardens Wellness Resort and Spa in St. Andrew on Wednesday, July 12, for a ceremony to announce the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) designation of Orphan Drug Status for ‘Chrysoeriol’. The drug, derived from cannabis, was developed by the United States-based Flavocure Biotech LLC (FBL), to treat acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Flavocure Biotech LLC is owned and operated by the Eden Gardens Group

Excerpt from Jamaica Observer column published 6 July 2020

by Jean Lowrie-Chin

On June 19, Vernon Davidson, Executive Editor for Publications at the Jamaica Observer authored a front page story on a breakthrough drug for the treatment of Covid-19 developed by renowned Jamaican scientist Dr. Henry Lowe.

“Yesterday Dr Lowe, who was named Jamaica Observer Business Leader in 2006, explained that he and his colleague scientists had, in 2015, actually isolated the flavonoid, named Caflanone from a very rare cannabis plant strain discovered in Jamaica,” he wrote. “At the time they were conducting research to find a drug that was effective against the coronavirus family following outbreaks of Zika, chikungunya, and previous scares of the H1N1 bird flu virus as well as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).”

That drug now has two patents and four papers written about its effectiveness. When the SARS scare subsided, Dr Lowe turned his interest to the use of Caflanone to treat pancreatic cancer. Regarded as one of the most, if not the most, effective treatment for this type of cancer, this formulation of Caflanone will be going to market later this month with a listing on the Canadian Stock Exchange.

We hope the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology and the UWI will engage further with Dr Lowe on this amazing drug, especially with the shortage of remdesivir, the world supply of which has been bought out by the US.  A covid-fighting formulation of Caflanone could be a windfall for Jamaica.