This medicine is the result of the research association with the Institute of Antibiotic of the Federal University of Pernambuco. It is produced based on Mentha crispa (small leaf mint) – one of the 70 species of this widely known shrub among us.

Giamebil® was developed from the popular habit of treating giardiasis and amebiasis with honey and mint.

It took the Institute of Antibiotics approximately five years to arrive at the final formula.

In the second phase of investment in research, Hebron® sponsored the doctoring of a pharmacist and his team, in Europe, to perform essential tests to the credibility of the medication. Giamebil® holds proven efficacy through clinical tests in phases 3 and 4 (The Helsinki Protocol) which compare the product to the efficacy of imidazole derivatives, but without its collateral effects.

The seeking of raw-material standardization, guarantee of replication – was the target and the challenge in producing Giamebil®. The researchers are aware of plant component instability resulting from climate variations and the seasons of the year. A study developed by Hebron® collected samples of the plant daily for twelve months – even getting to the extreme of collecting every hour on the hour during 24 hours, to find the period of highest yield. The study allowed the definition of trusted markers of the plant. Another difficulty was to obtain large quantities of raw-material. To solve the problem, Hebron® has a property in the dry region of Pernambuco, where it grows Mentha crispa in large scale. According to one of the greatest world specialists in phytotherapy, Benjamin Gilbert, of Fiocruz, owner of the largest Mentha crispa plantation in the world. The crop is exclusively used in the production of Giamebil®.

Giamebil® completed 14 years serving medical prescription, with over 9 million patients treated with the medication. Other researches worked out the original formula, enhancing its therapeutic power. Currently, researchers seek to improve the single dose of the product, which must be in the market in 2006.

After Giamebil®, other Hebron® phytomedicines have been researched, produced and made available to the market and to the medical class - Melxi® (fluidizer), Ansiopax® (anxiolytic), Adprex® (antidepressant), Gamax® (TPM symptom reducer), Kronel® (vaginal cicatrizant and anti-inflammatory), Brefus® (antitussive), Probeks® (dermatologic cream with cicatrizant properties), Endorus® (antispasmodic and antiflatulent), among others.

Hebron® was the first national laboratory to make available to the Brazilian market and to the medical class a phytomedicine based on national raw-material, as a result of the research of Brazilian scientists, complying with all Anvisa legislation. It is the national laboratory that invests most in pharmaceutical-medical research with phytomedicines, in association with research centers and universities of all regions in Brazil. Hebron® invests also in forming Brazilian scientists.

In Brazil in the years of 1980, of the 20th Century, there was no culture of pharmaceutical-medical research, nor the necessary knowledge for the doctor to be able to prescribe safely a phytomedication. At the beginning of the years of 1990, the former National Secretary of Health Inspection, SNVS, linked to the Secretary of Health, an important work to regulate the work of research and production of phytomedicines, was under way.

In 1994, SNVS promoted the meeting in Rio de Janeiro of the regulating agencies with the Academic world, and the participation of only one entrepreneur from the pharmaceutical industry - Josimar Henrique, president and CEO of Hebron®. The group discussed for two days how to regulate research and the production of phytomedicines. The result of this meeting was the first legislation on the subject, Ordinance No. 06, of January 31, 1995.

Five years later, a new meeting was held, now by the then recently created National Agency of Health Vigilance – Anvisa. As a result, on February 24, 2000, was created the Collegiate Directive Resolution (RDC 17) a regulating landmark in the history of phytomedicines in Brazil. The document regulates the registration of phytotherapeutical products with the health inspection system, classifies them as medicines and requires the proof of efficacy and safety of products through scientific studies with pre-clinic and clinic toxicology research.

In 2003, Anvisa reevaluated the entire legislation and once more, Josimar Henrique was invited to give his opinion on the subject. From the meeting emerged RDC 48, of March 16, 2004 – legal reference to all laboratories producing phytomedicines in Brazil.

As noticed, Hebron® has followed and actively participated, through his president, of the regulating process of Phytomedicines in the country. The Company followed each step taken to make phytotherapeutical medicines produced and tested under scientific grounds (a proof that the Company has always trusted the national scientific and technological potential, and the benefits that medicines based on plants can bring to medicine and to health).