CONTENT 1

Introduction
Herbal and conventional drug with their advantage and
disadvantage
Efficacy of herbal medicinal product
Validation of herbal therapies
Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic issue
Reference
INTRODUCTION

Herbal medicine has been used for thousands of years; in fact, its history goes back much further than

that of today's pharmaceuticals. It is a major component of alternative medicine, and is useful in

preventing and treating a number of common ailments. Nature's pharmacy is extensive, filled with

herbs that possess powerful medicinal properties. With guidance and knowledge, everyone has the

ability to use herbs to ease discomfort and promote healing.[1]

HERBAL VERSUS CONVENTIONAL
DRUG
Herbal Drugs (According to the World Health Organisation), herbal drugs are defined as 'finished,
labelled medicinal products that contain as active ingredients aerial or underground parts of plants, or
other plant material, or combinations thereof, whether in the crude state or as plant preparations. Plant
material includes juices, gums, fatty oils, essential oils, and any other substances of this nature. Herbal
medicines may contain excipients in addition to the active ingredients.
Medicines containing plant material combined with chemically defined active
substances, including chemically defined, isolated constituents of plants, are not
considered to be herbal medicines' Thus, herbal medicines contain a combination of
pharmacologically active plant constituents that are claimed to work synergistically to
produce an effect greater than the sum of the effects of the single constituents. There is
a general belief by the public that herbal medicines are safe because they are natural
which is partially wrong.
 ADVANTAGE OF HERBAL MEDICINE

• More closely related to our body structure because we are composed of nature

• Do not alter hormonal balance, Do not change chemical levels in the brain

DISADVANTAGE OF HERBAL MEDICINE

• Would not be able to treat serious trauma such as broken leg

• Would not able to heal appenditicis or heart attack as effective as conventional drugs
 6

CONVENTIONAL DRUG
Conventional Drugs means either (a) pharmacological single
entities which have been derived by chemical synthesis - the
so-called new-to-nature drugs; or (b) single chemical
derivatives of naturally occurring pharmacologically active
substances detected in, and isolated from, members of the
plant, fungus, bacterial, or animal world. The first category
includes laboratory originated drugs such as the ACE
inhibitors, beta blockers, proton pump inhibitors, and non-
steroidal anti-inflammatories. The second category includes
morphine, theophylline, colchicine, and other drugs derived
from plant alkaloids; immune suppressants such as
cyclosporine from soil fungus, most antibiotics, and human
hormones and cytokines, such as insulin and interferon. They
may be used singly, or, more often, they may be administered
combined with other conventional drugs.
 ADVANTAGE OF CONVENTIONAL DRUG

• Provide full attention as a doctor or a therapist

• There exist various condition which require conventional treatment

DISADVANTAGE OF CONVENTIONAL DRUG

• Many side effects

• High cost

• These drugs are made in lab rather than in nature and require approval
Efficacy of herbal medicinal 8

products
Herbal medicines usually contain a range of pharmacologically active
compounds; in some cases, it is not known which ingredients are
important for the therapeutic effect. Many herbalists believe that
isolated ingredients have weaker clinical effects than whole plant
extracts.
. The multi-ingredient containing herbal medicines, efficacy testing is
more complex than with synthetic drugs.
One approach is to view the entire herbal extract as the active
principle.
Efficacy is often attempted through standardization according to a key
constituent of the extract . Standardization can, however, only cover
one or two ingredients; thus, variation of other ingredients may still
remain, and it is possible that this could influence both efficacy and
safety of the product.
Full product characterization and quality control are therefore
essential for the reproducibility of scientific tests of herbal remedies .
 9

VALIDATION OF
HERBALTHERAPIES
Herbal medicines attract the interest of both patients and scientists, in all
aspects of drug development from natural products and also for validation of
traditional medicine (TM). Several developing countries rely on TM because of
their accessibility and affordability, and scientists all over the world consider
medicinal plants as a source of new chemical entities and use them to isolate
compounds such as digoxin, morphine, taxol, atropine, and vinblastine.
Quality issues of herbal medicines can be classified into two categories,
external and internal.
External issues include toxic metals, pesticides residues, microbes,
adulteration, and misidentification of medicinal plants.
The internal issues affecting the quality of herbal medicines are complexity
and nonuniformity of the ingredients.
Through the use of modern analytical methods and pharmaceutical
techniques, previously unsolved internal issues have become solvable
 10
1. Herbal medicines include herbal extracts, herbal drug preparations,
and herbal drugs. Herbal drugs are unprocessed parts of plants or
whole plants. Herbs include crude plant material such as leaves,
flowers, fruit, seed, stems, wood, bark, roots, rhizomes, or other
plant parts, which may be entire, fragmented, or powdered.
2. Herbal preparations include comminuted or powdered materials or
extracts, tinctures, and fatty oils of herbal materials, which may be
produced by extraction, fractionation, purification, concentration, or
other physical or biological processes.
3. The administering of a pure chemical or a plant extract containing
the same chemical entity is essentially different.
4. The difference is mainly due to the complexity of a plant extract
that introduces many variables to conventional phytomedicinal
research, which could possibly contribute to chemical complexity
and bioactivity.
5. Example
6. On administration of plant material of Artemisia annua versus the
pure drug, for example, artemisinin, showed that the bioavailability
from the leaves was 45 times more than that of the pure drug.
Thus, the complexity of the plant extract could have contributed to
the increased bioavailability and thus the bioactivity
PHARMACOKINETIC AND 11

PHARMACODYNAMIC ISSUE
Herb-to-drug interactions are based on the same pharmacokinetic and
pharmacodynamic principles

The pharmacokinetic interactions that have been identified that a

number of herbs, can affect the blood concentration of different
conventional medicines that are metabolized by cytochrome
P450(phase I drug-metabolizing enzyme system).

Polymorphisms in the genes for CYP enzymes and P-glycoprotein may

influence the interactions mediated through these pathways. Probe
drugs used in pharmacokinetic trials chlorzoxazone (CYP2E1), include
midazolam, alprazolam, nifedipine (CYP3A4), chlorzoxazone
debrisoquine, dextromethorphan (CYP2D6), tolbutamide, diclofenac
and flurbiprofen (CYP2C9), caffeine, tizanidine (CYP1A2) and
omeprazole (CYP2C19). Fexofenadine, digoxin and talinolol have been
extensively used in pharmacokinetic trials as P-glycoprotein substrates.
 12

DYNAMIC
Pharmacodynamic Warfarin interactions are a classical example a
interactions have been classical example of pharmacodynamic
less studied but may be
additive (or synergetic), interactions. Theoretically, increased
i.e. the herbal anticoagulant effects could be expected when
medicines potentiate
the warfarin is combined with coumarin-containing
pharmacological/toxicol herbs (some plant coumarins exert anticoagulant
ogical action of
synthetic drugs, or effects) or with antiplatelet herbs. Conversely,
antagonistic, i.e. the vitamin K-containing herbs can antagonize the
herbal medicines
reduce the efficacy of effect of warfarin (the action of warfarin is due to
synthetic drugs its ability to antagonize the cofactor function of
vitamin.
 13

REGULATION
1. Regulations governing herbal medicine – Laws and policies that oversee the production,
sale, and use of herbal remedies in a specific country or region.

2. 2. The body's regulation by herbs – How certain herbs help regulate bodily functions, such
as hormones, digestion, or immunity.

3. 3. Regulation of herbal product labeling and marketing – How authorities control the
claims and ingredients listed on herbal product labels.4.
 14

REFERENCE
• DR Md. RAJEEV Md. USMAAN ,DR DEENANATH JHADE ,DR MONA
KEJRIWAL, DR SUNITA JHADE, TEXT BOOK OF ADVANCE
PHARMACOGNOSY II, S. VIKAS AND COMPANY EDITION2021
PAGE NO 1-26