![\"solanum\"\/](\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/news-images\/20040818-04\/solanum.jpg\")
But Herbonis believes it may have found a solution in the plant solanum glaucophyllum or waxyleaf nightshade.<\/p>\nHerbonis, based near Basel, already has approval in Switzerland to develop a product for boosting bone growth in animals.<\/p>\n
After cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis is the second most prevalent medical problem in the world.<\/p>\n
But Herbonis believes it may have found a solution in the plant solanum glaucophyllum or waxyleaf nightshade.<\/p>\n
“It has very favourable properties, as we have already found in animal studies,” chief executive Beat Glatthaar told swissinfo.<\/p>\n
Active ingredient<\/b><\/p>\n
Herbonis has identified a powerful compound in the waxyleaf nightshade that helps the body to absorb calcium from food, building strong bones.<\/p>\n
Inadequate calcium is thought to contribute to the development of osteoporosis.<\/p>\n
Worldwide, 30-40 per cent of women suffer a fracture because of osteoporosis. In men, the risk is about 13 per cent.<\/p>\n
In several European countries, it is responsible for more hospital stays for women over 45 than any other disease.<\/p>\n
Recent studies have forecast that the global market for osteoporosis treatment will triple over the next ten years and be worth about SFr12.5 billion ($9.8 billion) by 2011.<\/p>\n
New bone-building agents, which are now becoming available or are in the development pipeline, are expected to capture 29 per cent of the total market.<\/p>\n
“This is exactly the area where Herbonis wants to become active,\u201d said Glatthaar.<\/p>\n
Calcium deficiency<\/b><\/p>\n
Before its product is approved for humans, Herbonis anticipates its use in poultry.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s intensive breeding programmes, chickens are expected to grow to their slaughter weight in five weeks \u2013 compared with seven weeks, 30 years ago.<\/p>\n
“Bone growth just cannot keep pace,” said Glatthaar. “A large fraction of these animals suffer from leg weakness and perish.”<\/p>\n
Glatthaar co-founded Herbonis in July 2001 after taking early retirement from Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Roche, where he worked for 24 years in the diagnostic and vitamins division.<\/p>\n
The company, which is based in Augst, has five full-time employees.<\/p>\n
Partners in the development of solanum glaucophyllum include the University of Applied sciences in Sion and Vitaplant, a Basel University spin-off in Witterswil.<\/p>\n
Herbonis refined the extraction process in Sion with federal funding, while Vitaplant, which is active in developing medicinal plants, has helped with the plant-breeding programme.<\/p>\n
The company hopes to break even in three years time. In the meantime, it continues to search for investors.<\/p>\n
“When you develop a plant and want to grow substantial amounts of an active substance, it takes time,” said Glatthaar. “There\u2019s no way around it.”<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Swissinfo \/ Neue Z\u00fcrcher Zeitung AG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Herbonis, based near Basel, already has approval in Switzerland to develop a product for boosting bone growth in animals.<\/p>\n
After cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[],"class_list":["post-13732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13732"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=13732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}