Germacrone is extracted from Curcuma zedoaria and has anti-inflammatory, anti-androgenic and antiviral activities. It also inhibits the proliferation of glioma cells by promoting apoptosis.

Germacrone can inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cell lines by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis through mitochondria-mediated caspase pathway. Germacrone might be a new potent chemopreventive drug candidate for liver cancer via regulating the expression of proteins related to G2/M cell cycle and apoptosis, and p53 and oxidative damage may play important roles in the inhibition of human hepatoma cells growth by germacrone. Germacrone moderately inhibits CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 activities in vitro, with IC50 values below 10 uM, and produces two oxidized metabolites and four glutathione conjugates.

Germacrone shows antiviral activity against the H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses and the influenza B virus in a dose-dependent manner, exerts an effective protection of mice from lethal infection and reduces the virus titres in the lung.