Botanical drugs: challenges and opportunities: contribution to Linnaeus Memorial Symposium 2007.

Full Abstract

Plants have been a source of therapeutic agents for more than 5000 years. Approximately 25% of the modern medications are developed from plants. Botanical drugs, simply defined as clinically validated pharmaceuticals of plant origin, typically contain a multi-component composition derived from herbal practices. An obvious advantage of botanical drugs is their history of use and hence, that the therapeutic window has already been understood through experience. Following vigorous scientific validation and appropriate regulatory procedures, some of the ancient remedies may prove to be useful in mitigating certain ailments (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, metabolic syndrome, etc.) where contemporary therapies often lack desired effectiveness. Such a complementary approach has received tremendous attention among medical professionals, governmental agencies and the general public across the world. A few recently approved botanical prescriptions in the USA and Europe, albeit for topical application, have opened a window of opportunity in terms of regulatory passages in the West. One of the major challenges we face is the standardization of biological materials from natural sources. New technologies to modernize traditional herbs into mainstream pharmaceutical products are being evaluated with the ultimate goal of maximizing the opportunities and overcoming the challenges.

Author information

Author/s: Liu, Yixuan (Y); Wang, Ming-Wei (MW);

Affiliation: The National Center for Drug Screening, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Review

Journal: Life sciences (Life Sci), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Feb; vol 82 (issue 9-10) : pp 445-9

Dates: Created 2008/02/18; Completed 2008/04/14;

PMID: 18177674, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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