Khalid Mahmood Cheema’s research while affiliated with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other places

... It has been reported as a potential candidate for the isolation of natural antiviral products that can be used in the development of drugs against HSV infection. 0.5% of the extract and gel of the plant in hydrophilic cream have been demonstrated for their efficacy in the management of genital herpes in males (Syed et al., 1996). Aloe-emodin, an anthraquinone from the plant has been shown to exhibit inhibitory effects on HSV-1 and HSV-2 by blocking nucleic acid biosynthesis leading to immature termination of the viral proteosynthesis (Mpiana et al., 2020). ...

Reference:

Antiviral potential of anthraquinones from Polygonaceae, Rubiaceae and Asphodelaceae: Potent candidates in the treatment of SARS-COVID-19, A comprehensive review