Ecopharmacognosy and the globalization of traditional medicines

Abstract

It provides a philosophical and practical framework for developing new strategies and scientific perspectives which can assure global healthcare product accessibility and beneficial outcomes. Here, the sustainable precepts of ecopharmacognosy to develop improved traditional medicinal agents for globalization, based on a holistic approach to technology integration, will be presented. Plants remain a primary source of healthcare for the majority of patients in the world. However, they are typically used with minimal quality control. In addition, there are many tropical diseases, as well as multidrug-resistant organisms, requiring drug discovery programs. To address these needs, ecopharmacognosy approaches and network pharmacology must enhance the quality, assure the safety, demonstrate efficacy, and provide consistency (QSEC), and explore the many diverse effects of individual and complex products at the gene level. Field-based instruments are being deployed to assess natural materials noninvasively, and spectroscopic and chromatographic procedures are in development to analyze quantitatively single and multi-component plant mixtures for established bioactive markers. Combining contemporary technologies and sustainability considerations, as aspects of ecopharmacognosy, are important strategies to enhance the quality control of traditional medicines for improved patient care.

Sixty Challenges – A 2030 Perspective on Natural Products and Medicines Security

“…Further consideration engendered the term "ecopharmacognosy", defined as "the study of sustainable, biologically active natural resources", which was proposed as a philosophy, and as a way of practice, regarding all aspects of the development of natural resources being considered or used for a biological outcome [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14], and as an integral aspect of an holistic approach to the quality control of traditional medicines [10].…”

Implementation of Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit-sharing in Peru: Implications for researchers

“…Secondly, Indena must consider the sustainability of its genetic resources supply chain; this is a common concern in the field of natural product research and development, as pointed out by the recently coined dedicated term "eco-pharmacognosy" (Cordell, 2011(Cordell, , 2014a(Cordell, , 2014b. In the event that a research project has a positive outcome and a new product is launched, the first burden for a company is being able to source enough quantities of the relevant biomass to satisfy market needs in the long term.…”

Alice, Benzene, and Coffee: The ABCs of Ecopharmacognosy

“…The status quo places the patient in the unacceptable position of "buyer beware", with no reliable resources to consult. Now is indeed the time for a new philosophy, a new intent for the quality of traditional medicines and dietary supplements; the existing paradigm must change [13,28,29,31,32,33]. The patient must be assured of QSEC in a trustworthy product as an essential moral and ethical responsibility.…”

“…The economic and health care outcome gaps between traditional medicine and allopathic medicine globally are vast [30,[42][43][44][45][46][47]. The additional challenges for enhancing TM based on an evidencebased, patient-centered approach entail an exploration from a scientific perspective of the many myths which are associated with, and in some respects inhibit, unbiased TM research and development [32][33][34], to address the desperate need for quality control systems for TMs [13,29,31,33], and to examine the profound necessity to assure the supply of critically-needed traditional medicines through sustainable sourcing [25,26,29,32,33] for the majority of patients in the world. That those situations even exist in the 21 st century reflect another deep-seated "madness", a failure to bring even a semblance of equality to our health-care priorities globally, and an irrational view of natural resource sustainability, namely, the enduring "myth" that the plants will always be there.…”

“…Alice, Benzene, and Coffee, each provide important background concepts as we look at the future development of traditional medicines. The last aspect to be introduced is the term "ecopharmacognosy", a word 25 years in development [13] over the course of numerous articles , including some on that precise topic [30,32,34]. "Pharmacognosy" is defined as "the study of biologically active natural products" [17].…”