Knee cramps and arthritis that afflicts one out of every six people in the country finally may be a thing of the past. Thanks to mussel power.

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute has come out with CadalminTM Gme, a green extract from mussels, that is an alternative to anti-inflammatory drugs that may have undesirable side-effects.

The formulation has already got a patent and the institute has begun scouting for knowledge partners to transfer technology so that commercial manufacture can start at the earliest, Syda G. Rao, director of the institute, says. “A group of scientists had been researching on the project for the last three years, part of the institute’s philosophy to look at nutrition, genetics and bio-technology and filling knowledge gaps,” he says.

K.K. Vijayan, the scientist who with his colleague, Kajil Chakravarthy, has been associated with this venture, says mussels traditionally are seen to have medicinal value. “We extract natural marine bioactive anti-inflammatory ingredients from mussels which have them in plenty. From around 1 kg, we can extract 100 gm. This is then enriched, bio-engineered, dried and capsuled,” he says.

“A 500-mg tablet taken daily for three months can show results. On an experimental basis, we tried it on people with severe arthritis and had remarkable results,” said Mr Vijayan, head, marine biotechnology department.

The production cost would be as low as Rs.4-5 per tablet. A similar product of 300 mg strength presently imported from New Zealand is sold at Rs.16 a tablet.