Jergon sacha is a herbaceous perennial that grows in the Amazon basin. The Indian tribes use the tuber of the plant as an antidote for poisonous snake bites. In the 1990’s the Peruvian media reported that a Peruvian physician, Dr. Roberto Inchuastegui Gonzales, who was the president of the Committee of AIDS and Transmissible Diseases at the Peruvian Institute of Social Security in Iquitos, Peru was having remarkable results in treating AIDS patients with extracts of Jergon sacha and Cat’s claw. Dr. Inchuastergui reported that a majority of HIV patients treated with these herbal extracts had tested negative for the HIV virus after taking these extracts for six months.

Protease inhibitors are a new class of drugs used to combat HIV that work by blocking the HIV protease enzyme. Proteases are also the main ingredient in snake venom. Anti snake venom herbs such as jergon sacha are natural protease inhibitors and may explain the reason Dr. Inchuastergui has had such remarkable success with AIDS patients.