Quality Control of Herbal Drugs

Therapeutic potentials of herbal drug ranges from parts of plants, through simple extracts to isolated active constituents. There has been a resurgence of interest on plants and plant derived products as a source of medicine in the last few decades. Herbal products have occupied a major part in curing different human ailments, but what about the quality of those products? Certain of these drugs have been known and are being used by man for many centuries, while others are still being isolated and evaluated. Dealing with natural products, the most vital and potent therapeutic importance is the medicinal plants - the noun is common, the adjective is common place and their juxtaposition introduces a concept that is not always easy to define, as it is the same for their quality and purity. Herbal drugs have become one of the totems in this era of phytotherapy. The medicinal plants have enormous commercial potentials throughout the globe. Along with the increased interest in herbal medicines, there has been an explosion in the amount of literature on the subject and quality control is of utmost essential in this respect the world over. In the herbal boom worldwide, it is estimated that high quality phyto-medicinals will provide safe and effective medication and scientists engaged therein will find this book most useful for their work for providing the necessary information in every respects.
This text is intended to present elements of both methods and theoretical backgrounds of different aspects on quality control and standardization of herbal drugs and formulations. More emphasis has been made on classical pharmacognostical and phytochemical approaches dealing with different aspects of quality control and standardization by virtue of new techniques and these have therefore been integrated. As the importance of adequate botanical, chemical and pharmacological evaluation of natural products used in different alternative systems of medicine is becoming increasingly widespread, even "Folk medicine" is being referred to as "Traditional medicine". In this respect, I hope that chemists/scientists will get some new guidelines and approaches on screening, evaluation, quality control and standardization of herbal drugs from different chapters of this book.
It is my belief that the information presented in this volume will have a considerable impact on the standardization profiles and quality control of botanicals having therapeutic potentials. Pharmacists, regulators, scientists and interested lay persons can no longer disregard the scientific and clinical evidences supporting herbal utility simply by claiming ignorance of data available in this field. The examples and evidences represented in this treatise strongly support the quality parameters as well as the different screening profiles of therapeutically important herbal drugs. This will facilitate to improve the concepts of the herbal medicines on one hand and increased usage of desirable standardized conventional drugs on the other hand. For far to long, the use of natural medicine in India as well as in other developing and developed countries has depended largely on folklore-traditional concepts.
Particularly in India, Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani etc. consists of large number of herbal remedies, being used from ancient times and having their potential therapeutic claims with their quality control specification no doubt. These medicaments however, suffer from lack of standardization parameters and proper documentation based on scientific screening procedures. Publication of this book will, without question, become a significant landmark, a milestone of achievements, in the development of phytomedicines and its wide application of human health.
An effort has been made to highlight the various developments taking place at a steady growth of the subject. The significant modern approaches have been described in various chapters including evaluation and quality control of herbal drugs with WHO guidelines and other official monographs. Various parameters on quality control including good agricultural practice, pharmacological and antimicrobial screening procedures have been included in different chapters. Specific chromatographic analysis procedures for some selected plants based on marker compound analysis have also been included.
In the Appendixes, the addresses of different organizations along with internet websites of various organizations related to herbal drugs have been included. Some useful references on the standardization profiles of the herbal drugs will definitely be useful for the research workers and chemists to have a handy tool to proceed with different facets of herbal drugs standardization and quality control.
Thus there has been an exhaustive attempt put forward to provide the pharmacists in general and the academics /industrial chemists/ research and development scientists in particular to proceed with different aspects of herbal products. The bibliographical details are indicative rather than extensive and it is intended for readers who want more. Thus a balanced view on different features of the traditional and modern aspects of standardization and quality control of natural products have been made and hope that the text will provide the readers with an accurate update on different aspects of quality control and standardization on herbal drugs and formulations.

The most exhaustive and comprehensive book ever available on the subject.
    • Safety and Toxicity in Herbal Drugs
    • Ethnobotany in Drug Evaluation
    • Macro-Morphographical Studies
    • Development of Standardization Parameters
    • Phytoconstituents and Their Analysis
    • Extraction of Herbal Drugs
    • TLC - Detailed Procedures and Guidelines
    • HPTLC - Densitometry
    • Pharmacological Screening of Herbal Drugs
    • Good Agricultural and Harvesting Practices
    • Quality Assurance and Stability Testing of Herbal Drugs
    • Analytical Profiles of Selected Medicinal Plants
        Plus Annexed Information
        Additional References
        Internet Resources for further information
        International Associations/Organizations

You Need This Book If You Are:
    • Grower of medicinal herbs
    • Wholesaler/Distributor
    • Manufacturer of Herb Extracts
    • Manufacturer of Herbal Formulations
    • Researcher
    • Academician
    • Regulatory Affairs Specialist

AUTHOR: Dr. Pulok K. Mukherjee
ISBN: 9788190078849
YEAR: 2002 – First Edition, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 – Reprinted
PAGES: 800
BINDING: Hard
LANGUAGE: English