Challenges in the Promotion of Herbals as Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Herbals, particularly traditional herbal medicines (codified or non-codified) are of immense value. These have significantly contributed to the development of various medications, and hence have become the focus area of researchers for drug discovery. Eighty per cent of the medications of plant origin are suggested to be based on original ethnopharmacological uses¹. Paclitaxel (Taxol^®), the most extensively used drug for breast cancer, was isolated from Taxus brevifolia bark. Artemisinin and its derivative artemotil, isolated from Artemisia annua and quinine, isolated from Cinchona succirubra bark are approved antimalarial drugs. Apomorphine, used to treat Parkinson’s disease, is a derivative of morphine, which was isolated from Papaver somniferum. Many more effective and safe herbals may be developed as alternative and complementary medicine for different indications with inclusive efforts of the governments, policy makers and technocrats.