Current Status of Herbal Drugs in the Development of Newer Therapeutics Agents

This study was designed to discuss some of the important issues related to the current status of herbal drugs in the development of newer therapeutics agents. The approach to new drugs through natural products has proved to be the single most successful strategy for the discovery of new drugs. In this review we consider the past, present, and future value of employing information from plants used in traditional medical practices (ethnomedicine) for the discovery of new bioactive compounds. In the western world, as the people are becoming aware of the potency and side effect of synthetic drugs, there is an increasing interest in the natural product remedies with a basic approach towards the nature. Medicinal plants play a vital role for the development of new drugs. The bioactive extract should be standardized on the basis of active compound. The bioactive extract should undergo safety studies. Almost, 70% modern medicines in India are derived from natural products. Medicinal plants play a central role not only as traditional medicines but also as trade commodities, meeting the demand of distant markets. Currently plant based drugs are researched and formulated in modern framework of medicine rather than in the form of galenical preparations or conventional dosage. Subject is witnessing transformation from galenical to genomical. Even in the era of biotechnology and bioinformatics subject holds paramount importance because of its interdisciplinary and flexible