Time To Take Medicinal Plant Research Out of the Jungle
Dr EKI Omogbai
Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria
Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research 2006; 5(1): 531-532
ISSN: 1596-5996
Editorial
In
the last ten years, there has been a massive increase in the pharmacological
evaluation of medicinal plants and research output in this area especially in
the Third World continues at a frenetic pace. As the current Editor-in-Chief of
the West African Journal of Pharmacology and Drug Research (a journal that
publishes articles all areas of pharmacology and toxicology), I have observed
that over sixty percent of papers submitted to us for publication (especially
from Africa and Asia) are work on medicinal plants.
What
is responsible for this upsurge and research skew in favour of medicinal plant
research in the developing world? Some
of the ready reasons include the following:
(a)
The
acknowledgement of the fact that a greater number of the peoples of the Third
World depend on herbal preparations for the treatment of their ailments.
(b)
Plants
are the most likely source from which new drugs will be discovered for the
treatment not only of the recalcitrant old ailments like malaria and
tuberculosis but also of the latter-day diseases such as HIV/AIDS and the
unpredictable and wild influenzas that episodically plague us.
(c)
Third
World countries have come to the realization that total dependence on the use of
orthodox drugs is an unrealistic burden on their often fragile economies in the
face of the strangle-hold of the multinational companies on orthodox drug supply
whose patent rights they own.
(d)
The use
of herbal remedies has taken on a global appeal, as their use is less regimented
than that of orthodox drugs.
(e)
The
enormous plant biodiversity provides a tempting arena of opportunities for
research and contribution to knowledge and the realization of a sense of
achievement on the part of the investigator.
(f)
Routine
pharmacological evaluation of plant preparations especially in animal models
provides a ready source of new knowledge and often requires less of the
sophisticated equipment usually needed for today’s cutting-edge molecular
investigations.
From
current research reports, it is obvious that extracts from various plant parts
are screened for properties like analgesic, anti-inflammatory, hypotensive,
hypoglycaemic, antimicrobial, anticonvulsant and similar effects in animal
models reflecting the disease conditions and their symptoms for which such
plants are often used in folk medicine. In
a few cases, efforts are made to isolate active principles.
It has been argued that the isolation of active principles is not an
essential condition for herbal medicine and that it is best to determine
efficacy and other effects using each plant preparation the way it is employed
as herbal remedy.
It
is my opinion that for the acceptance of a herbal remedy for routine and general
use, a perfunctory screening in animal models for efficacy is not enough.
The time has come for the establishment of standard protocols for the
evaluation of any herbal remedy. Depending on the intended or established use of
a remedy, controlled clinical trials and broad-spectrum toxicity studies may be
necessary. It will then be easier
to answer such questions as “Does this really cure or ameliorate this
condition?”, “ Is it safe to give this preparation to a pregnant woman or a
nursing mother?” , “Can a hypertensive individual be safely treated for his
rheumatoid arthritis with this herbal preparation?”.
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