Stevens' Cure (Umckaloabo)-the vindication of a patent medicine

T Brendler; M A Stander; B-E van Wyk

doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1294997

Stevens' Cure (Umckaloabo)-the vindication of a patent medicine

Front Pharmacol. 2024 Jan 3:14:1294997. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1294997. eCollection 2023.

Authors

T Brendler¹, M A Stander^{2

3}, B-E van Wyk¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² Department of Biochemistry, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
³ Mass Spectrometry Unit, Central Analytical Facility, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Abstract

Stevens' Cure (Umckaloabo) emerged as a patent medicine claiming to treat tuberculosis in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 20th century. However, due to its identity being shrouded in secrecy, it was never truly accepted by the medical community. It was "rediscovered" in the 1970s and subsequently developed into a very popular and successful phytopharmaceutical for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections. Whether Stevens' Cure contained the same ingredient(s) as the modern Umckaloabo has not yet been demonstrated. We attempted to elucidate for the first time the identity of the original ingredient by comparative analysis of historical product samples. Three historical samples of Stevens' Cure were compared with Pelargonium sidoides DC. and P. reniforme Curt. root per UPLC-MS analysis. We confirm that the ingredient-P. sidoides DC.-is indeed the same as used in modern phytotherapy. We also attribute the first ethnopharmacological record of P. sidoides DC. being used for the treatment of tuberculosis to C. H. Stevens, the "creator" of Umckaloabo.

Keywords: Pelargonium reniforme Curt.; Pelargonium sidoides DC.; Stevens’ Cure; Umckaloabo; identification; umckalin.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Financial support from the National Research Foundation of South Africa (to the National Research Chair in Indigenous Plant Use, NRF Grant Number 84442) and the University of Johannesburg is gratefully acknowledged.