Antitumor agent

A method to isolate a composition which inhibits insulin secretion in βTC-6 cells and HIT-T15 cells and is non-cytotoxic to βTC-6 cells, but cytotoxic to HIT-T15 cells and

• which is cytotoxic to SV40 Mes13 cells, but not cytotoxic to MDCK cells,
• which method comprises
• a) extracting the bark of Ficus bengalensis with a solvent consisting of lower alcohols to obtain an extract;
• b) drying the extract to obtain a residue;
• c) dissolving the residue in methanol;
• d) loading the dissolved residue onto an activated silica gel column;
• e) eluting the column with a solvent consisting of ethanol:hexane (2:1) to obtain an eluent;
• and
• f) removing said solvent from the eluent to obtain said composition.