Alkaline phosphatase: An old enzyme newly discovered as a medicine

Alkaline phosphatase (AP), a non-toxic natural compound (enzyme) has a great potential to replace or avoid the use of various drugs, in particular anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. used during surgery and to reduce arthritis) and antibiotics applied to farm animals, which both have serious negative effects on the environment. Promising studies are being performed to demonstrate the possibility to avoid complications after major surgery (thereby eliminating the need to use harmful drugs for many years) and the reduction of antibiotics use in piglets.