Herbal medicines encompass the combination of practices of indigenous systems of medicine and several therapeutic experiences of many previous generations. Which delivers valuable guidelines to the selection, preparation, and application of herbal formulation for the treatment, control, and management of a range of illnesses. Plant-based drugs are reported to be successfully used to cure skin diseases, tuberculosis, diabetes, jaundice, hypertension, mental disorders, cancer, AIDS, and many other infectious diseases. Countries with ancient civilizations like India, China, South America, and Egypt are still using several plant-based remedies for treating such ailments. According to World Health Organization (WHO), 60% of the world’s population relies on herbal medicine and about 80% of the population in developing countries depends almost totally on it for their primary health care needs. Phytocompounds and also their chemical analogs have provided abundant clinically useful drugs in the treatment of chronic and acute diseases. And still research is continued to search for newer therapeutic agents from medicinal plants. The herbal industry shares about US$100 billion with decent growth potential worldwide. The WHO has stated that trade in medicinal plants, herbal raw materials, and herbal drugs is growing at annual growth rate of about 15%. The increasing popularity and acceptability of herbal medicine is belief that all natural products are safe, cheaper, and commonly available. However, there are also some concerns are associated with herbal medicine regarding its pharmacognosy and standardization compared with conventional drugs. For the last two decades research efforts have been intensified in both developed and developing countries to scientifically evaluate using clinical and validate the herbal drugs. Hence, considering the greater future perspectives in herbal medicines, we attempted to review systematically the current status of its use in treating various diseases and associated pharmacological issues. Furthermore, need for future investigations in developing herbal drug as modern therapeutic agents is addressed.

Sophia

Managing Editor

Herbal Medicine: Open access journal

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