“Anti-inflammatory active principles in Euganean thermal mud” European Patent

In the last 30 years, the Pietro d’Abano Thermal Studies Center, in collaboration with several academic institutions, has conducted multiple studies that have demonstrated the anti-inflammatory capacity of the Euganean thermal mud due to the proliferation of some particular microscopic algae that are the characteristic healing elements of the thermal basin.

 

The benefits obtained by the applications of mature thermal mud derive from a complex system of interactions between the elements present in virgin mud, thermal water and the biological component developed during maturation:

 

“These organisms, in response to the environment in which they live and develop, produce a series of bioactive compounds that combine with heat, electrolytes and water to provide mud with its therapeutic property (Marcolongo et al., 2006). More precisely, it has been shown that a cyanobacterium, growing on thermal mud and identified on the basis of genetic studies as Phormidium sp. ETS-05 (Ceschi Berrini et al., 2004), produces glycolipids and sulfoglycolipids with an anti-inflammatory effect equal or even higher than the effect of traditional anti-inflammatory substances such as indomethacin and betamethasone, but characterized by the absence of toxic effects even after repeated treatments (Lalli et al., 2004). Certainly, this ability, in addition to what was discovered in Phormidium sp. ETS-05, is due to a set of bioactive compounds produced by a complex community of cyanobacteria which, at the current state of knowledge, can be estimated in more than 10 taxa” (extract from the Regulations for the protection of the European Patent No. 1571203).

 

These discoveries were certified in 2009 in Italy by Patent No. 0001355006 concerning the “Anti-inflammatory active principles in Euganean thermal mud” and subsequently certified also in Europe, in 2013, by Patent No. 1571203 “Anti -inflammatory active principles in Euganean thermal mud”.

 

The main patent claim is summarized in the use of the active ingredients identified for the preparation of drugs useful for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as osteoarticular diseases. These drugs, which may have a topical application, include thermal mud, although they are not limited to it.

 

The license to use the European Patent guarantees the presence of numerous active ingredients in mature thermal mud and involves the fulfilment of a protocol developed by the Pietro d’Abano Thermal Studies Center to obtain some mud that has the highest effectiveness.

 

The thermal hotels in the Euganean area that have obtained the license to use the brand guarantee the quality of the therapeutic product they use, both because they apply the regulations for the correct cultivation of the resource and because the Pietro d’Abano Thermal Studies Center periodically checks their compliance with the mud maturation protocol by visiting them (see the Regulations for the license to use the Patents).

 

LIST OF THE HOTELS OWNING THE LICENSE TO USE THE PATENT

 

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