Foreword to Volume

India has very rich biodiversity and enjoys the privilege of having time-tested traditional systems of medicine viz. Ayurveda and Unani based on natural products. Modern pharmacopoeia also contains at least 25% drugs derived from plants and analogue built on prototype compounds isolated from plants. So far, 180 potential plant species have been identified to obtain bioactive molecules of therapeutic and agricultural applicability. Recently, there have been ever increasing demands especially from developed countries for more and more food and medicinal products from plant sources. Phytomedicines are being increasingly used in Western countries. The global market of these products at present is US $62 billion per annum and will hit the market by the year 2050 at the level of US $5 trillion. India, at present is exporting herbal materials and medicines to the tune of Rs. 550 crores.

There is an awakening all over the world on the use of age old wisdom of traditional systems of medicine to combat diseases of multiple nature and share the wealth of knowledge stored in these systems. Developed countries in Europe and America of late have been showing keen interest in the use of herbal medicines because these are supposed to have no side-effects compared to allopathic medicines obtained through chemical process, besides combating diseases considered chronic and incurable. This awakening has created increased interest from the pharmaceutical industry and others on the use of herbal drugs. WHO and FAO studies indicate large-scale traditional uses of plant materials as medicine(s) against a variety of ailments. Using improved screen techniques genomic investigations are now in progress to target biomolecules of plant origin for treatment of range of lethal and morbid human diseases and conditions.

Currently there had been many advances in the strategies for discovering and evolution of drugs, particularly plant based. The chemodiversity that occurs in plants is far more complex than the outwardly observed biodiversity. Recent investigations in specialized areas of biological activity have nevertheless confirmed that plants are a reservoir of chemical agents with therapeutic potential. With the advent of combinatorial chemistry, genomics research, newer molecular biological tools for developing bioassays, cell-based assays, high through put screening (HTS) and computer aided de novo drug design, greater number of new drugs leads may now be expected. Consequently, the researches have been doubled globally to discover still more potent plant drugs during last two decades. In fact, a few new drug plants have successfully passed the tests of commercial screening.

This has led to generating lot of new researches, and therefore, there is an enormous need for exchange of this vital information for wider use by scientific community engaged in the development of new drugs. Based on this rationale, the present volumes 25: Chemistry and Medicinal Value of the series Recent Progress in Medicinal Plants has been compiled and presents 23 research and review papers authored by eminent scientists and researchers from India and abroad. The contributions are from far and wide including Belgium, Brazil, China, Congo, Czech Republic, France, Greece, India, Japan, Morocco, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia and USA.

I feel privileged and honored to prepare this foreword and congratulate the editors Dr. V.K. Singh, Assistant Director (Botany), Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, New Delhi and Dr. J.N. Govil, formerly Principal Scientist, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, for the splendid job in compiling and editing this important work.

The findings presented are likely to open new vistas of knowledge and prove to be an excellent exposition of current world-wide efforts, particularly in the area of plant based medicines. It is hoped the volume will be of immense importance to researchers and scientists particularly in the area of phytochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, medical sciences and other allied disciplines engaged in the discovery of new drugs of natural origin.

September 15, 2008