Medicinal Plants

Medicinal plants are plants possessing pharmacological activities of possible therapeutic use. A careful and planned investigation of the plants are needed in order to develop new drugs that meet the criteria of modern treatment.

The goals of research in this field are –

• The identification of the active principles of medicinal plants, and pharmacological investigation of the extracts in order to ensure that they are safe, effective, and of constant activity, and
• The isolation of these active principles, and determination of their structure and pharmacological effects.
• Chemical modification of the active principles to synthesise new compounds of greater therapeutic value.

         The methodology of research into medicinal plants must be rigorous. If research is to be effective it must be performed logically and systematically by a multidisciplinary team comprising of a pharmacognosist, a pharmaceutical chemist and a pharmacologist.