Anglo-Saxon pharmacopoeia revisited: a potential treasure in drug discovery

Abstract

Modern translations provide a new opportunity to revisit the Anglo-Saxon medicinal texts, a valuable resource for discovering and developing novel compounds from native British flora. Previous pharmacological studies of 16 th and 17 th century medicinal plants reported in the Anglo-Saxon medical texts, suggest some were effective and led to the identification and isolation of new natural compounds such as matricin from Achillea millefolium L., a prodrug that yields chamazulene carboxylic acid, a natural profen.New insights through multidisciplinary projects could further explore the manuscript content for the discovery of metabolites with potential pharmacological applications.

Chinese Herbal Medicines for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Text‐Mining the Classical Literature for Potentially Effective Natural Products

“…Along with the increasing application of clinical trial methodologies for the evaluation of traditional medicines for RA and other diseases, there has been increasing attention to the systematic assessment of the premodern and classical medical literature using text-mining approaches [20]. Such studies have focused on drug discovery from compounds found in the natural products used in traditional medicines [21][22][23]; identification of instances of long-term traditional use of natural products for certain diseases or symptoms [24][25][26][27]; the logic underlying ancient acupuncture prescriptions [28]; and investigations of continuities and differences between the classical and modern Chinese medicine approaches to certain diseases [29,30]. It has been proposed that long-term traditional use could be considered as a source of evidence [31], and a "whole-evidence" approach to evidencebased Chinese medicine could concludes systematic searching of the classical literature as one component [32].…”

Characterization of the antibacterial activity of Bald’s eyesalve against drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa

“…Ancient Anglo-Saxon medicinal remedies have been receiving renewed scrutiny concerning their potential as rich sources of antibacterial compounds that could help combat modern drug-resistant bacterial infections [1]. As the discovery and development of novel antibiotics declines, the emergence of antibiotic resistant pathogens is an alarming threat to human health, with an estimated 700,000 deaths resulting from drug-resistant infections per year.…”

Natural products for chronic cough

“…6 A number of drugs have originated from natural products used in traditional medicines. 7,8 A recent review reported that from 122 drugs derived from natural sources, 80% were developed for the same indication as their traditional use. 6 Some well-known drugs used for cough are derived from plant compounds, such as codeine from opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) and pseudoephedrine from Ephedra sinica.…”