IngredientsCondurango is a species of plant of the genus Ruehssia native to Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru in South America, and the plant bears the common name "condurango." The currently accepted family is Apocynaceae; the genus is Ruehssia and the species epithet is cundurango. Synonyms include Marsdenia cundurango, Marsdenia reichenbachii, Gonolobus condurango, and Echites acuminata. The name Marsdenia cundurango remains the most widely encountered synonym in the pharmacological and pharmacognostic literature, and it was previously classified in the family Asclepiadaceae before taxonomic revision merged that family into Apocynaceae. As of November 2023, Plants of the World Online recognizes two subspecies: Ruehssia cundurango subsp. cundurango, found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and Ruehssia cundurango subsp. fosteri (Morillo) Liede & H.A.Keller, found in Peru.
Common names include: bejuco de condor, bejuco de sapo, condor plant, common condorvine, condurango, condurango blanco, eagle vine, and tucacsillu. The plant gets its local name "condor vine" or "eagle vine" from the large and weighty condor eagles that often use this sturdy vine as roosts and perches.
Condurango is a tropical woody vine found in the high mountain jungles and cloud forests between 2,000 and 3,000 m in elevation. It is indigenous to the lower slopes of the Andes in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. The vine grows about 30 feet long and produces velvety heart-shaped leaves and small funnel-shaped greenish-brown flowers. The vine grows to about 2 feet in diameter and is quite woody and sturdy. Young climbing shoots are covered by a thin soft coating; older branches and the trunk are encased in a grey bark. The latex produced by the plant is poisonous in its fresh state.
The part used in herbal medicine is the vine bark. The active substance, called "condurango bark" (in Latin: condurango cortex), is the dried bark of the branches and of the trunk of the plant. The bark of the condurango vine is the primary part utilized for medicinal purposes, although leaves and roots have also been traditionally employed.
Transformed into a fine powder, the bark of condurango is used directly as a medicament. Cut finely or milled roughly, it is used as a basis for the preparation of infusions, extracts (for example Condurango extractum fluidum), or wine (condurango vinum). Its bark is employed as an aromatic but bitter stomachic at the time of digestive disorder and/or anorexia, usually in the form of fluidextract (per commentary for the ninth Japanese Pharmacopoeia). Dried bark is the main source for condurango ethanolic extracts. In homeopathic practice, the plant is administered in potentized forms; research involving these preparations has been conducted, and studies have specifically employed a 30C potency designation.
Condurango has long been used by the indigenous peoples of South America, who valued the bark especially for treating a variety of digestive and stomach problems. Traditional uses include aiding digestion as a bitter stimulant to increase digestive juices, relieving nausea and vomiting, calming nervous stomachs, relieving stomach pain and cramps, treating gastric ulcers, and increasing bile in the gallbladder, liver, and pancreas. In the high mountain jungles and cloud forests of South America, the plant was also used against snakebites, and it occurs in the lower Andes in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, although it is also cultivated in East Africa.
In South America, the bark is used as a bitter and digestive tonic that stimulates the liver and pancreas; its bitterness slowly increases the appetite and the stomach's ability to process increased quantities of food. It is considered a specific treatment for nervous indigestion and anorexia nervosa.
Condurango was first introduced into the United States in 1871 in an official manner; it was given to the State Department in Washington by the Minister of Ecuador with official certificates from Ecuadorian doctors attesting to its ability to treat stomach cancer and syphilis. While it was never really proven effective for cancer during those early years, it became a trusted remedy for digestive disorders in the late 1800s and early 1900s and was included in the U.S. Pharmacopeia as well as several other European pharmacopeias.
As one early eclectic medical text noted, this agent "at one time so highly lauded as a positive remedy for cancer and syphilis, is rarely employed at the present time, and should it possess any valuable therapeutic virtues, they are not likely to be ascertained for some time to come, as the exaggerated statements and misrepresentations attending its introduction have led the profession to regard it with suspicion and incredulity." It was nonetheless considered probable that it had "a tonic effect in gastric debility, and especially relieves pain in the stomach."
The medicinal properties of cundurango were recognized in the 19th century, and it was included in homeopathic remedies for conditions related to gastric disturbances and ulcerative diseases. The homeopathic drug condurango is generally used against esophageal cancer in homeopathic practice, and has been studied in animal models in this context.
According to the compiled ethnopharmacological record, the range of uses attributed to condurango bark across various South American and subsequently Western traditions has included:
Condurango contains a group of novel glycosides and steroids. It is composed in particular of the bitter substance condurangine (a mixture of a number of glucosides), small amounts of flavonoids, and coumarin. The most pharmacologically investigated class of compounds is the pregnane glycosides, also called condurangoglycosides or condurangogenins.
The pregnane ester glycoside fraction from condurango cortex (dried bark of Marsdenia cundurango) has been reinvestigated. Four previously unknown glycosides of the new aglycone condurangogenin E have been isolated by column chromatography and subsequent HPLC, and named condurangoglycoside (CG) E, EO, E2, and E3. Reinvestigation of the known pregnane ester compounds condurangogenin A, CG A, AO, and C by selective proton-decoupling techniques required structural revision of all these and related compounds. The aglycones of the A, B, C, D, and E series are esterified with acetic acid at the 11α-hydroxy group and with cinnamic acid at the 12β-hydroxy group of the steroid skeleton.
Six pregnane glycosides were isolated from condurango, of which condurango glycosides A and C showed anti-cancer potentials. Of the pregnane glycosides isolated from condurango bark, condurangogenins A and C are reported to be the most effective ingredients.
The bark is employed as an aromatic but bitter stomachic; the components include condurangogenin-A, condurangogenin-C, and many other pregnane-type compounds and their esters and glycosides.
The subspecies Ruehssia cundurango subsp. cundurango (synonym Marsdenia cundurango) is known to contain conduritol, a cyclitol or cyclic polyol. It was first isolated in 1908 by K. Kübler from the bark of the vine. Conduritol chemicals are documented with anti-inflammatory and antitumorous activities.
Condurango contains a plant chemical called hyperoside, which is documented with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancerous actions. It also contains conduritol chemicals, which are documented with anti-inflammatory and antitumorous activities.
Other constituents in condurango include hydroxylated pregnane derivatives, chlorogenic and caffeic acids, as well as various cyclitols, flavonoids, and coumarin derivatives. The bark contains various bioactive compounds, including glycosides, volatile oils, phytosterols, caffeic acid derivatives, and flavonoids such as rutin.
Alkaloids have also been identified from Cortex Condurango (Marsdenia cundurango), documented in the phytochemical literature from 1975.
In a 2018 study published in the Journal of Natural Medicines, seven new pregnane glycosides (1–7) and eight known compounds (8–15) were isolated from the bark of Marsdenia cundurango (Asclepiadaceae). The structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis, including two-dimension NMR spectroscopy, chemical transformations, and chromatographic analysis.
Condurango contains a substance that stimulates salivation and stomach juices. Its use as a digestive aid was studied and validated in the mid-1980s when scientists reported that it increased various digestive enzymes and juices in the stomach. This bitter-stimulant mechanism is consistent with the action of many Andean bitter tonics: bitterness sensed orally and in the gastrointestinal tract reflexively increases secretion of saliva, gastric acid, and digestive enzymes.
Condurango activates pro-apoptotic genes (Bax, caspase-3, caspase-9, p53, cytochrome-c, apaf-1, ICAD, and PARP) and down-regulates antiapoptotic Bcl-2 expression at both mRNA and protein levels. Studies on caspase-3 activation and PARP cleavage by western blot analysis revealed that condurango induces apoptosis through a caspase-3-dependent pathway.
The single isolated active ingredient condurangogenin A (ConA; C₃₂H₄₂O₇) has been studied for its effects on A549, H522, and H460 non-small-cell lung cancer cells. Condurangogenin A has anticancer effects against several lung cancer cell types in vitro by DNA damage-induced apoptosis and p21/p53 mediated cell cycle regulation.
Condurango has the capacity to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), which may contribute to a reduction in anti-oxidative activity and to an induction of oxidative stress-mediated cancer cell death.
Condurango has been reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions in animal studies. Its content of hyperoside is of particular note in this regard: condurango contains hyperoside, which is documented with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancerous actions. Hyperoside has been shown in separate research to inhibit inflammatory signaling via p38 and NF-κB pathways.
In test-tube studies, condurango was shown to be highly active against the mycobacterium that causes tuberculosis but inactive against any of the viral strains tested.
Condurango's role as a bitter digestive tonic has the longest history of recorded use and has received limited but supportive preclinical investigation. Scientists in the mid-1980s reported that condurango increased various digestive enzymes and juices in the stomach, providing a mechanistic basis for its traditional use. Historically, condurango was used in South American folk medicine for a range of digestive complaints; it was commonly employed as a bitter tonic to stimulate digestive processes and increase gastric secretions, and traditional practitioners used it to address stomach pain, indigestion (dyspepsia), and to stimulate appetite.
Condurango is used for indigestion, cancer, and other purposes, but there is no good scientific evidence to support any use based on current clinical evidence standards. There are no published controlled human clinical trials specifically evaluating condurango for digestive disorders that meet contemporary standards of evidence. The available support is derived from traditional use documentation, in vitro enzyme studies, and the pharmacological activity of its bitter constituents by analogy with other bitterns. Evidence strength for digestive use: preclinical/traditional only; no controlled human trial evidence.
Condurango contains a group of novel glycosides and steroids. After more than 100 years since it was introduced to the West as a plant active against cancer, a group of Japanese scientists published several studies and filed several Japanese and U.S. patents on these novel compounds. Mitsuhashi et al. (1984) first reported that CGS (condurango glycosides), the biologically active component, had anti-tumor activity.
Various studies have highlighted the anti-cancerous potential of Marsdenia cundurango. In vitro studies using various cancer cell lines showed that cundurango glycosides (CGA) and condurangogenins (ConA) induce DNA damage, apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest.
Seven new pregnane glycosides and eight known compounds isolated from the bark of Marsdenia cundurango were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against HL-60 human leukemia cells, A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells, and TIG-3 normal human lung cells, including apoptosis-inducing activity of a representative pregnane glycoside in HL-60 cells. These results were published in the Journal of Natural Medicines in 2018.
A 2021 PMC study examined combined extract synergy: ethanolic extracts of Marsdenia cundurango showed IC₅₀ values of 385 µg/mL and 459 µg/mL against HeLa and HepG2 cells respectively; the synergistic combination with Barbadensis miller produced significantly lower IC₅₀ values. Combined plant extracts showed more anticancer potential at low doses compared with individual plant extracts; combined plant extract was found to induce apoptosis, restrict proliferation, and enhance oxidative stress.
A histological study in a rat model revealed gradual progress in lung tissue-repair activity in condurango-fed cancer-bearing rats, showing gradual tissue recovery after three months of drug administration. Condurango contains pregnane glycosides and shows antitumor effects; the ethanolic extract of Marsdenia condurango was shown to relieve benzo[a]pyrene (BaP)-induced lung cancer in rats through a caspase-3-dependent pathway to induce apoptosis.
One study aimed at examining whether post-cancer treatment with a potentized homeopathic drug, condurango 30C, could show an ameliorating effect through apoptosis induction on lung cancer induced by benzo[a]pyrene in white rats. Lung cancer was induced after four months by chronic feeding of BaP to rats at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight for one month. After four months, the lung-cancer-bearing rats were treated with condurango 30C for one, two, and three months respectively.
All published anticancer evidence for condurango is confined to in vitro cell-line experiments and animal models. Some in vivo experiments have indicated the anti-cancerous activity of condurango extract, but there is no good scientific evidence to support any use in humans based on the current body of published literature. No registered human clinical trials for condurango as a cancer treatment have been identified in the peer-reviewed literature. Evidence strength: preliminary; in vitro and animal data only; no human clinical evidence.
The use of traditional medicine is widespread and plants present a large source of structurally novel compounds that might serve as leads for new drug development. Research on plants used in traditional medicine in Ecuador, including Marsdenia condurango, has formed part of a preliminary screening programme on plants used as anti-inflammatory and digestive agents. In studies, condurango has shown anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions. These effects have been attributed to the plant's content of hyperoside, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and conduritol derivatives. Evidence strength: preclinical/preliminary; primarily in vitro and animal models.
In vitro studies have shown condurango to be highly active against the mycobacterium that causes tuberculosis but inactive against any of the viral strains tested. This finding has not been followed up with human or animal studies sufficient to draw clinical conclusions. Evidence strength: in vitro only; no human or animal study evidence for antimicrobial clinical use.
Based on the accumulated traditional use documentation and preclinical evidence, condurango has been associated with the following body systems and health areas:
Appropriate dosages are not well established. The following dosage-related information appears in source-backed records:
No standardized or validated dosage regimen for human use has been established in published clinical literature.
The most clinically significant and evidence-backed safety concern for condurango is its potential for anaphylaxis in latex-allergic individuals. People who are allergic to latex are sometimes also allergic to condurango. The allergic reaction can be severe. A case report published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in 1998 (Pfützner W. et al., Vol. 101, No. 2, pp. 281–282) documented an anaphylactic reaction elicited by condurango bark in a patient allergic to natural rubber latex. A further communication (Rueff F. et al., 1998) indicated that sensitization to condurango bark is frequent in patients with allergy to natural rubber latex.
The latex produced by the plant is poisonous in its fresh state. Some sources indicate that the plant contains a latex that can be poisonous if ingested. The bark used medicinally is the dried material; fresh latex is not the same as the dried medicinal extract.
There is insufficient reliable information to know if condurango is safe to use when pregnant or breast-feeding, and it is advised to avoid use.
When taken by mouth, there is insufficient reliable information to know if condurango is safe or what the side effects might be. Standard caution is to avoid use if allergic to latex. No drug interactions with condurango have been reported in the available pharmacological literature.
An acute oral toxicity study conducted by the University of Guayaquil, Ecuador, concluded that condurango did not produce toxic effects, classifying it as practically innocuous for humans when administered in the acute form; studies of acute toxicity at higher doses in humans were therefore considered unnecessary. This finding, however, pertains to a specific commercial preparation and does not constitute comprehensive long-term safety data.
Condurango has an extensive ethnopharmacological record spanning several centuries in South American indigenous medicine and was admitted to the U.S. Pharmacopeia and European pharmacopeias as a digestive bitter in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its phytochemistry is well characterized with respect to the pregnane glycosides (condurangoglycosides A through E and their aglycones), conduritol, hyperoside, chlorogenic and caffeic acids, flavonoids, and coumarin derivatives. Preclinical research — predominantly in vitro and in rodent models — has identified pro-apoptotic, anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimycobacterial activities. However, there is no good scientific evidence to support any use in humans based on current rigorous clinical standards. No randomized controlled trials in human populations exist for any indication. The most thoroughly documented safety issue is the risk of cross-reactive anaphylaxis in latex-allergic individuals, documented in peer-reviewed allergy literature.
Health conditions that Condurango may help support.
Body systems that Condurango may help support.
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