Medicinal Plants And Its Standardization – A Global And Industrial Overview

Over the last few decades the role of medicinal plants as a primary tool in the preservation of health and management of diseases is realized with great concern. Since the use of synthetic drug molecules that produce harmful side effects. Medicinal plants are commonly available in abundance, especially in the tropics. Plants are valuable for modern medicine in four basic ways, they are used as a source of direct therapeutic agents, serve as a raw material base for elaboration of more complex semisynthetic chemical compounds; the chemical structures derived from plant sources can be used as models for new synthetic compounds and finally medicinal plants can be used as taxonomic markers for the discovery of new compounds. Herbals have contributed significantly to allopathic medicinal armory. Some of the drugs used today (e.g., aspirin, codeine, morphine, vinblastine, vincristine, Pilocarpine, cocaine, atropine, emetine and ephedrine) have originated from medicinal plants (Bevill, R.L., et al., 1999). It has been estimated that approximately one fourth of the prescriptions dispensed from community pharmacies in the United States contain one or more ingredients derived from plant origin (Blumenthal, M., et al., 1998). Around 80% of all contemporary pharmaceuticals are derived directly or indirectly from plant sources. Quality control and standardization of herbal medicines involve several steps. However, the source and quality of raw materials play a pivotal role in guaranteeing the quality and stability of herbal preparations.