The tonne of clippings produced by its annual trimming are sold to pharmaceutical companies who use extracts as a key ingredient of Docetaxel, a chemotherapy drug used to treat breast, ovarian and lung cancer.
Although doubt remains about the effectiveness of the Cool-Cap system on patients undergoing chemotherapy using Epirubicin and Docetaxel, studies suggest there is statistically significant, but marginal, decrease in hair loss in study participants.
Hypericum extract, by inducing both the CYP3A4 and the P-glycoprotein (P-gp), can reduce the plasma concentrations of different antineoplastic agents such as imatinib, irinotecan and docetaxel, thus reducing the clinical efficacy of these drugs.