Curcumin has been used in traditional medicine for hundreds of years. It is also one of the most researched herbal compounds in the world, with many studies showing its anti-inflammatory properties in a wide range of inflammatory diseases.

However, most of this extensive research examined curcumin properties in the lab or on small group of patients.  While this is a good starting point, there is universal agreement that the best and most founded method for testing a medicinal formulation is a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.  This is why we decided to set a new standard in curcumin research and to conduct a randomized controlled clinical trial to test its efficacy and safety in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Through combining modern and traditional knowledge of the herb Curcuma Longa from which curcumin is extracted, we have developed Cur-cure™, a novel 95%-pure curcumin which is a uniquely gut-directed curcumin extract delivering the active curcumin compound to the mucosal layer of the intestine.  Since intestinal inflammation predominantly occurs in the mucosal layer of the gut, Cur-cure™ formulation is uniquely adapted to treat inflammation of the gut, such as the inflammation in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

To test this objectively, we initiated the Cur-cure™ clinical trial which enrolled ulcerative colitis patients with active disease and symptoms despite being treated with conventional treatment with 5-ASA drugs such as mesalamine.  3gr of Cur-cure™ per day was given for one month in addition to the conventional treatment in half of the patients, whereas the other half received dummy drug (placebo) instead of curcumin. Patients were recruited in three medical centers around the world (Israel, Hong Kong and Cyprus).  In 2014, after reaching the recruitment goal of 50 patients, the study was concluded and the results analyzed.

The results showed significantly better clinical and endoscopic improvement with Cur-cure™ compared with placebo.  Over half of the patients taking Cur-cure™ experienced clinical remission and over 65% experienced significant clinical improvement!  Moreover, 38% of the patients were in endoscopic remission at week 4, i.e. had no inflammation of the mucosal layer of the colon when examined by lower endoscopy. There were no significant side effects of Cur-cure™ in any of the patients.

The results of this breakthrough trial were published in the prestigious medical journal ‘Clinical Gastroenterology & Hepatology’, and together with our prior laboratory studies with Cur-cure™, provide strong evidence for its role in the integrative treatment of intestinal inflammation and in ulcerative colitis in particular.