Pharmaceutical & Healthcare

The medicinal properties of plants can be attributed to their unique phytochemistry or pool of secondary metabolism. These secondary metabolites or natural compounds are low weight molecular compounds which have ecological functions and include Polyphenols, Flavonoid Pigments, Essential Oils and Alkaloids to name but a few. Many of these compounds and the plant extracts containing them provide a rich source of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

Over 50% of all drugs utilised by man can be traced to natural product research and the potential of herbal preparations in the production of APIs in the modern world remains significant. Through a robust and compliant supply chain we still source appropriate raw materials worldwide, blending traditional knowledge with operational and scientific expertise to successfully deliver your project.

Ransom Naturals Ltd have a highly dedicated team who possess a breadth of capabilities. Investigation, through development phase, validation, stability, scaling up and commercial manufacture, all strongly endorse our credentials as a leading providers of natural extracts to the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. We are more than capable of producing APSs to the exacting standards of the European Pharmacopoeia in our GMP accredited facility.

Like most companies we operate to standard product lists. However, we particularly enjoy and strongly believe that one of our greatest strengths is working with our customers on natural product projects to suit their specific requirements. For example, we have delivered bespoke products such as Pine Sprout Extract, Benzoin and Gentian Tinctures and Food Grade Guarana Infusions to meet the needs of particular applications and finished forms.

Pharmaceutical Product List

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Capsicum
Capsicum related extracts have historically been used in traditional medicinal systems worldwide, and are extensively used in food and beverage applications. Capsicum extracts are currently used for a range of therapeutic indications, including the relief of muscular and arthritic related pain, as a rebefacient and counterirritant. Typically, they are used in medicinal creams or patches to treat muscular and arthritic related pain, or at low levels in cough, cold and throat preparations for pungency.

Capsicum extracts are incorporated as active ingredients or excipients in products for both the pharmaceutical and personal care sectors. The group of compounds which are responsible for the therapeutic effects of Capsicum are the capsaicinoids, which deliver characteristic warmth and pungency.
Capsaicinoids profile for Capsicum Oleoresin

There are six main capsaicinoids identified in current pharmacopeial monographs: capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin, decanylvanillinamide, homocapsaicin and nonivamide. Synthetically derived nonivamide has historically been added to Capsicum extracts as a means of increasing the declared content of capsaicinoids, and hence the content of nonivamide is controlled in all extract specifications.
Ransom Naturals Ltd produce a wide range of capsicum extracts to meet British, European and United States pharmacopeial monographs, in addition to those formulated to meet customer specific requirements.
Ransom Naturals Ltd is one of a small number of European manufacturers of Capsicum extracts producing to cGMP requirements. Capsicum raw material meeting GACP growing requirements is sourced from an approved supply chain, and processed in our cGMP facility in the UK.
- * European manufacturer of Capsicum extracts, oleoresins and tinctures
- * Producing extracts meeting pharmacopeial monographs or customer specific requirements
- * In depth finished formulation knowledge across health, personal care and food sectors
- * Regulatory support up to and including licence submission
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Cocillana

Guarea rusbyi (Britton) Rusbyi more commonly known as Guapi Bark, Huapi Bark and Grape Bark is a plant native to tropical South and Central America, particularly Bolivia and the eastern Andes. The plant is a member of the Meliaceae family and is an evergreen tree which grows to about 45 m in height. The bark occurs are flat or curved pieces with an outer surface that is fissured and grey brown in colour. It has an astringent taste and is slightly nauseous with a characteristic odour.

The part used medicinally is the dried bark which is a powerful expectorant and the herbal drug preparation containing it is known as Cocillana. It activity is similar to that of Ipecac root but it is more stimulant as an expectorant.

The plant was discovered in the 1880s by Henry H Rusbyi during an expedition to the Amazon to document and collect specimens of medicinal plants and he suspected it contained an alkaloid. Subsequent studies done in 1893 described that the bark contained 2% resin, 2.5% fixed oil, tannins, an alkaloid termed rusbyine and possibly a glucoside.

There are several herbal drug preparations containing Cocillana bark notably Cocillana Liquid Extract BPC 1973 and Compound Syrup of Cocillana BPC 1949. The latter contains Cocillana Liquid Extract plus Liquid Extracts of Euphorbia, Senega and Squill along with preservative, codeine, menthol, Spirit of Chloroform, glycerine, water and syrup. The API is generally used as an ingredient in oral liquid cough mixtures such as the brand Cocillana-Etyfin formerly marketed by the Swedish speciality pharmaceutical company Meda AB. Cocillana-Etyfin contains Cocillana Liquid Extract BPC, Senega Liquid Extract BP1980 and ethyl morphine as the active ingredients.

Ransom Naturals manufactures a concentrated extract of Cocillana, CO/15 – EFM Liquid Extract of Cocillana BPC that can be used to prepare Liquid Extract of Cocillana BPC. RNL are in the process of method validation and ASMF compilation.
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Rhubarb

Rhubarb (Rheum spp) are herbaceous perennials that are members of the Polygonaceae family. The leaves are best avoided as they are considered to be toxic due to the relatively high levels of oxalic acid.

The part of the plant traditionally used for medicinal purposes is the rhizome or root and to a lesser extent the petioles. Rhubarb is astringent and has both cathartic and laxative properties. It is thus used as a traditional treatment for constipation. In Chinese medicine it is used to treat a number of conditions such as jaundice, abdominal pain, skin afflictions and disruptions in the menstrual cycle. The compounds believed to be responsible for the laxative properties are the anthraquinones chrysophanic acid (chrysophanol) (1), emodin (2), aloe-emodin (3), rhein (4), physicon (5) and their glycosides. The plant is also known to contain stilbenoids such as rhaponticin (6), volatile oil, phenolic acids and flavonoids.

The current official herbal drug preparation containing rhubarb is Compound Rhubarb Tincture BP which is prepared from coarsely powdered dried underground parts of Rheum palmatum L. or R. officinale Baillon or of hybrids of these two species or a mixture.

Ransom Naturals produces herbal drug preparations containing Rhubarb which is RH/20 – Compound Rhubarb Tincture BP.
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Senega

Polygala is a large genus of flowering plants which are commonly known as snakeroots or milkworts and are members of the Polygalaceae family. More than 700 species have been described and the genus shows an intercontinental geographical distribution with representatives native to the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia.

The best known representative of the snakeroots is Polygala senega L. This plant is native to North America where it is chiefly found in southern Canada and the central and eastern United States. The plant is more commonly known as Seneca snakeroot or simply Senega root, the former of which is derived from the Seneca tribe, Native Americans who used the root to treat snakebite.

The root has been popular in traditional North American herbal medicine where it was used as an expectorant, diuretic, as well as an anti-inflammatory and a medicine to treat toothaches. It is also used as an ingredient of cough syrups, teas, lozenges and gargles. This has caused concerns about overexploitation as the root is primarily harvested from the wild. P. tenuifolia Willd is cultivated on a commercial scale in the Far East, primarily in China and Japan. Pharmacopoeias such as the Ph. Eur. prescribing that the herbal drug Polygalae radix can consist of the dried roots of Polygala senega or of certain other closely related species or a mixture of these Polygala species. There are two main official herbal drug preparations containing Senega root namely Senega Liquid Extract BP1980 and Concentrated Senega Infusion BP1980. Senega extracts are present as an API in a number of traditional herbal medicinal products (THRs).

The active constituents believed to be responsible for the therapeutic properties of the herbal drug are saponins. A complex mixture of bidesmosidic saponin glycosides have been identified in the root of P. Senega which are based on the aglycone presenegenin (1).

Ransom Naturals Ltd manufactures a number of herbal drug preparations containing Senega root namely SE/34 – EFM (Extract for Making) Concentrated Senega Infusion BP1980, SE/27 – EFM Senega Liquid Extract BP1980 and a number of bespoke liquid extracts prepared from Senega root (SE/16 and SE/19 which is 1:2 or 1:1 liquid extract).
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Squill

Squill is a common name for a group of plants that are lily like members of the Asparagaceae family. The Squill of commerce comprises two main species namely Drimia maritima (L.) Stearn also known as Urginea maritima and commonly known as maritime squill, sea onion or red squill and Drimia indica (Roxb.) and Jessop which is commonly known as Indian squill.

Both plants are herbaceous perennials and contain large bulbs up to 20-30 cm in diameter with each bulb bearing dark green, leathery leaves, up to 100 cm long and 12 cm wide. The flowers of Indian squill are greenish brown to somewhat purple in colour whilst those of maritime squill are white but some varieties have red tinted flowers lending to the name Red squill.

Drimia maritima has a long history of use in traditional medicine. . It was used in ancient Greece as a treatment for jaundice, convulsions and asthma. The Greek scholar Theophrastus recommended its use as a rat poison as unlike most other animals rats seem deterred from eating it. This is because of its extremely bitter taste which induces vomiting. The plant has also been historically used as an insect repellent.

In more recent times maritime squill has been used as an expectorant, emetic, diuretic and cardio tonic to regulate heart rhythm and it is a common ingredient of cough mixtures. For example Squill Oxymel and Squill Tincture are respective ingredients in the Herbal Mucus Cough Syrup and Chesty Cough Mixture (Mentholated) products from the Covonia range of liquid medicines marketed by Thornton & Ross. The plant also has additional cardiovascular properties that include reducing left ventricular diastolic pressure, and reducing pathologically elevated venous pressure.

Official liquid preparations include Squill Liquid Extract BPC 1973, Squill Tincture BPC 1973, Squill Vinegar BPC 1973, Ipecacuanha and Squill Linctus, Opiate (Paediatric) BPC 1973, Squil Oxymel BP and Squill Elixir BP 1980. Squill oxymel is basically a preparation containing honey and Vinegar of Squill with the latter prepared by macerating the plant material in aqueous acetic acid. They function as cardiac glycosides by exhibiting positive inotropic and negative chronotropic effects on the cardiac muscle. This is believed to be accomplished by inhibition of Na⁺/K⁺ – ATPase in the cardiac muscle by the bufadienolides.

Ransom Naturals Ltd manufacture several herbal drug preparations containing squill. These are SQ/01 – Squill Aqueous Soft Extract (Indian squill), SQ/02 – Squill Aqueous Soft Extract (Italian squill), SQ/05 – Solution for Making Squill Elixir BP1980, SQ/11 – Squill Liquid Extract BP, SQ/14 – Squill 65% Alcoholic Soft Extract, SQ/15 – EFM Squill Liquid Extract BP, SQ/16 – EFM Squill Tincture BP, SQ/25 – Squill Vinegar for oxymel, SQ/27 – SFM Squill Oxymel BP, SQ/28 – Squill Oxymel BP

The active constituents of Squill are bufadienolides based mainly on the aglycone scillaridin A. The principal glycosides are scillarin A (1) and proscillaridn A (2). They contain a triterpenoid skeleton which is steroidal in structure.

Ransom Nautrals Ltd. has chemical manufacturing controls to control the quality of raw material input and herbal drug preparation.

Pharmaceutical & Healthcare

Capsicum

Cocillana

Rhubarb

Senega

Squill

Ransom Naturals Ltd