People with diabetes mellitus have the risk of long recovery period when they suffer from injuries due to the prolonged inflammation response, sometimes even leading to cases where members of the body have to be amputated. It may take up to 12-20 weeks of recovery under normal treatment while the existing medicines cannot yet effectively heal the injuries as they cannot regenerate the skin optimally.
This condition prompted a group of UGM students – Rahmad Dwi Ardhiansyah, Muhammad Nuriy Nuha Naufal, Muhamad Atabika Farma Nanda, Riefky Pradipta Baihaqie (Veterinary students), and Kurnia Rahmawati, (Pharmacy student) to make a special medicine.
Rahmad said currently Indonesia ranks the fifth in terms of DM patients, or 9.1 millions of people. His fellow students, supervised by drh. Yuda Heru Fibrianto, MP, Ph.D., then developed the medicine using the waste of cow blood.
“Indonesia has the potential in developing medicines from the unused waste of cow blood that can be obtained from slaughter houses,” he said on Wednesday (30/9) at UGM.
Currently, people waste the cow blood which can pollute the environment. As a matter of fact, in one year from one slaughter house as much as 88,088 littres of blood are produced.
The students started to work by separating the platelet from the blood waste, mixing it with cream basis to make it homogeneous.
“The cream will serve a topical medicine on the skin that is easy to stick to the wound, the platelet will affect the recovery process, hence expediting the process which leaves no scars,” he said.
The cream is tested on mice that showed the effectiveness of the healing process, leaving no scars on the animal. Currently, the students are awaiting to get a patent for their work. This medicine can be used for burnt, scars, surgical and other injuries. The medicine use of cow blood waste can minimise pollution as well as production costs.
“To make commercial wound medicines, Indonesia has yet to depend on substances from abroad, which are very expensive. The use of cow blood waste can hopefully reduce dependency on imported products,” he said.