Medicinal Plants & Research

Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesise hundreds of chemical compounds for functions including defence against insects, fungi, diseases, and herbivorous mammals. Numerous phytochemicals with potential or established biological activity have been identified. However, since a single plant contains widely diverse phytochemicals, the effects of using a whole plant as medicine are uncertain. Further, the phytochemical content and pharmacological actions, if any, of many plants having medicinal potential remain unassisted by rigorous scientific research to define efficacy and safety. In the United States over the period 1999 to 2012, despite several hundred applications for new drug status, only two botanical drug candidates had sufficient evidence of medicinal value to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Medicinal plants are open, reasonable and socially proper wellsprings of essential medicinal services for more than 80% of Asia's populace (WHO). Poor and minimized, who can't bear the cost of or get to formal social insurance frameworks, are particularly subject to these socially recognizable, actually straightforward, fiscally moderate and for the most part powerful customary drugs. Thus, there is far reaching enthusiasm for elevating customary wellbeing frameworks to meet essential human service’s needs. This is particularly valid in South Asia, as costs of cutting edge medications winding and governments discover it progressively hard to meet the cost of pharmaceutical-based social insurance.

• Medicinal plants in traditional care system
• Phytomedicine and medicinal crops
• Efficacy of medicinal plants
• Global market of medicinal plants
• Biodiversity of medicinal plants