The future role of natural products in health care

For thousands of years, one of our many gifts from the Earth has been medicines to treat a myriad of ailments. In the developed world, approximately 25% of prescription products are derived from higher plants, and in the developing world, over 80% of the population relies on plants, in the form of traditional medicine, for their primary health care. In 2050, the Earth will have a population of at least 10 billion, and most of the great rain forests and their species will have been destroyed. At that time, will we regret not examining our existing natural resources for their medicinal potential? What are the health care issues that we are leaving for our descendants as a result of our choices today? Where do our responsibilities as global citizens and scientists coalesce? In this presentation, we will consider the need for more extensive biological evaluation of plants and their constituents, using alkaloids as an example. In addition, we will contemplate how access to the biome, the acquisition, analysis and dissemination of plant knowledge, the safety and efficacy of traditional plant remedies, and analytical and biotechnology enhancements are intimately involved in the sustainable development of drugs for improving health care on a global basis. For thousands of years, one of our many gifts from the Earth has been medicines to treat a myriad of ailments. In the developed world, approximately 25% of prescription products are derived from higher plants, and in the developing world, over 80% of the population relies on plants, in the form of traditional medicine, for their primary health care. In 2050, the Earth will have a population of at least 10 billion, and most of the great rain forests and their species will have been destroyed. At that time, will we regret not examining our existing natural resources for their medicinal potential? What are the health care issues that we are leaving for our descendants as a result of our choices today? Where do our responsibilities as global citizens and scientists coalesce? In this presentation, we will consider the need for more extensive biological evaluation of plants and their constituents, using alkaloids as an example. In addition, we will contemplate how access to the biome, the acquisition, analysis and dissemination of plant knowledge, the safety and efficacy of traditional plant remedies, and analytical and biotechnology enhancements are intimately involved in the sustainable development of drugs for improving health care on a global basis.