Toxic, immunosuppressive medicinal plant from China, see also under three-winged fruit. Tripterygium Wilfordii HOOK.F. (TwHF) is the only plant mentioned in the AMWF guidelines for rheumatoid polyarthritis.
Studies prove its efficacy in autoimmune diseases, including psoriasis, where it is even more effective than methotrexate (Zhang W et al. 2015). The toxicity of the drug is problematic.
In China, too, only a 50 % ethanol extract of the root is approved as Kunming-Shanhaitang tablets for lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis (Wiebrecht A et al. 2021).