Colonial tradition of OTC preparations: Umckaloabo, Uzara and others

Some OTC preparations well known today have long been used in traditional medicine and among these, several have been brought to Europe in Colonial times. The most promising example might be Umckaloabo® used against bronchitis. Its history dates back to the late 19th century when Henry Charles Stevens from Birmingham was cured from what he assumed to be tuberculosis by a healer in South Africa. Back to Britain he marketed this preparation as “Stevens Cure”. From there it spread to Switzerland and Germany. The medicinal plants yielding the preparation were determined as Pelargonium sp. not before the 1970s. The unique name is actually derived from Zulu language. A rather similar history is related to the antidiarrhea preparation Uzara®. In this case, the German soldier Wilhelm Heinrich Hopf (1827–1929), born in Melsungen, was cured from dysenteria by chewing the traditionally used Uzara root (Xysmalobium undulatum) in South Africa as well. He brought specimens home to Hesse where they were thoroughly investigated at Marburg University under the supervision of Prof. August Gürber. In 1910, Hopf founded a production and marketing company in his home town Melsungen. While these preparations were marketed early, we have also the example for Syzygium cumini, a drug from the Far East very well known for its blood sugar lowering effects. Although it was extensively investigated in the early 19th century already, it was never marketed seriously. Compounds which show effects comparable to glibenclamide have been isolated, characterized and patented by the Hoechst company but never commercialized. In recent years, a dramatically underdosed Syzygium preparation licensed as homeopathic (Glykowohl®) came up. Syzygium has also been described in a journal called “New Commercial Plants and Drugs”, edited between 1878 and 1888. This publication served as marketing tool for the business of Thomas Christy selling plant material imported from the British Colonies. Lists of materials available for sale show a large spectrum of colonial medicinal plants, partly in use up to the present day.