ARDA joins with the private sector to accelerate the development of Kratom for medicinal uses

On Tuesday, May 10, 2022, Agricultural Research Development Agency (Public Organization) or ARDA together with MS Biotech Co., Ltd., organized the signing ceremony of a research license agreement, the project "Development of Kratom for medical use and the project "Development A medicinal formula containing standard Kratom extract as an ingredient" held at Prince of Songkla University, Songkla province.

Dr. Suwit Chaikiattiyos, Executive Director of the Agricultural Research Development Agency (Public Organization), said that ARDA supported research funds on Thai herbs from 2014 to the present, with more than 250 projects under a budget of more than 500 million baht. There is a business development and innovation in the herbal research group. According to the National Master Plan on Herbal Development, Vol. 1 (2017-2021), the National Herbal Products Plan during 2020-2022, and the ARDA research funding plan, the fiscal year 2022, including the integration of upstream research on the upstream side, it is to support research and development for the production of quality herbal raw materials that meet the market demand by using the market as a leader midstream, and downstream is to support research and development of herbal products that meet market demands through the participation of the business sector to support research and development of a certification system for herbal extracts and raw materials for commercial use along with developing a network of cooperation in the research and development of medicinal plants.

On the other hand, MS Biotech Co., Ltd. is interested and sees the importance of research to use the results for commercial. Therefore there has been negotiated a request for a license to use the research results of the formula for the extractions of substances from the Kratom leaves by using ultrasonic waves or microwave products, hard pills, soft tablets, and dry powdered pills. That is the signing ceremony of the research license agreement held at Prince of Songkla University for the Prince of Songkla University to have witnessed this signing.

Assoc.Prof.Sunton Wongsiri,M.D., Vice President for Research and Innovation, said the Prince of Songkla University was very pleased and honored with the success of the project research. "Development of Kratom for Medical Use" with Asst. Prof. Dr. Somchai Sriwiriyajan Faculty of Science is the project leader, and the project "Development of a medical formulation with Kratom extract as an ingredient" with Assoc. Prof.Dr.Juraithip Wungsintaweekul Faculty of Pharmacy Prince of Songkla University Head of the research team which both such projects. It supports the Royal Thai Police, including Prince of Songkla University, which has a lot of knowledge in Kratom research. In addition, research personal is highly specialized in Kratom research. It can see from the number of petty patents on Kratom plants arising from the research in the project mentioned above that have been carried out with the ARDA, amounting to 10 issues, which are potential works. Ready for the private sector to use for commercial use and can create additional economic and social value in the order.