Jorhat, Aug. 1: A scientist at the North East Institute of Science and Technology (Neist) here has discovered a groundbreaking process to extract from a local plant a powerful antioxidant called oxyresveratrol that is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry for its anti-cancer, anti-ageing and cardio-protective properties.

In the world market, one kilogram of 99 per cent pure oxyresveratrol is valued at $9,980 (around Rs 6.68 lakh). The crude form of the chemical costs $100 per kg.

Oxyresveratrol is found in the heartwood of the Artocarpus lakoocha tree and a few other plants. But scientist Swapnali Hazarika has discovered a new, eco-friendly technology to extract the chemical from a plant native to Assam.

Hazarika has refused to name the plant yet because a patent is still pending. A few big pharmaceutical companies have also shown interest in procuring the extraction technology from Neist, a laboratory under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Oxyresveratrol is also used in the treating tapeworm infestation and Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disease.

"The product has been purified to 99 per cent purity, which is the best that can be had through a membrane technology. There has been no generation of toxic chemicals in the process, which is very cost effective," Hazarika said.

The membrane can be used for 15 cycles and each cycle can yield 2kg of oxyresveratrol, she said.

Hazarika said 25kg of dry raw material - bark and branches - would be required produce 2kg of oxyresveratrol. The market price of the finished product, around Rs 13 lakh for 2kg, is 14 times more than the cost of the raw material.

Hazarika said the difficult part was making the membrane, which extracts the pure form of oxyresveratrol from another compound with similar molecular weight and properties.

"A common green solvent was used for extraction and eight compounds were found. While six were eliminated easily, two compounds, one of them oxyresveratrol and the other with a similar molecular weight and similar activities as oxyresveratrol, were obtained. We produced a synthetic non-toxic membrane which filtered out oxyresveratrol with 99 per cent purity from the other (compound)," she said.

Hazarika said India had imported more than 20 million tonnes of oxyresveratrol from China in 2015.

D. Ramaiah, the director of Neist, said the institute was contributing to the health sector in several ways. "Apart from anti-fungal and anti-arthritis creams, which we are also producing in our labs and selling, we have also produced an anti-lung cancer spray from the mejankori fruit locally available in the region. However, this is being tested by Zydus Cadila, which is working in collaboration with Neist," he said.

"We are also planning to produce 2kg of oxyresveratrol in our lab daily. This has immense benefits for mankind," Ramaiah added.