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Article: Developing drugs from traditional medicinal plants.
- Article from:
- Chemistry and Industry
- Article date:
- April 20, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Society of Chemical Industry. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Traditional medicaments, derived from plants for thousands of years, are now yielding their secrets and finding important roles in modern medicine
Over three quarters of the world's population relies mainly on plants and plant extracts for health care.[1] Approximately one third of the prescription drugs in the US contain plant components,[2] and more than 120 important prescription drugs are derived from plants.[3] Most of these drugs were developed because of their use in traditional medicine. Economically, this represents $8000-10,000M of annual consumer spending.[4] Recent World Health Organization (WHO) studies indicate that over 30 per cent of the world's ...