Merging traditional Chinese medicine with modern drug discovery technologies to find novel drugs and functional foods.
Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) are rapidly gaining attention in the West as sources of new drugs, dietary supplements and functional foods. However, lack of consistent manufacturing practices and quality standards, fear of adulteration, and perceived deficiencies in scientific validation of efficacy and safety impede worldwide acceptance of TCM. In addition, Western pharmaceutical industries and regulatory agencies are partial toward single ingredient drugs based on synthetic molecules, and skeptical of natural product mixtures. This review concentrates on three examples of TCM-derived pharmaceuticals and functional foods that have, despite these usual obstacles, risen to wide acceptance in the West based on their remarkable performance in recent scientific investigations. They are: Sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), the source of artemisinin, which is the currently preferred single compound anti-malarial drug widely used in combination therapies and recently approved by US FDA; Thunder god vine (Tripterygium wilfordii) which is being developed as a botanical drug for rheumatoid arthritis; and green tea (Camellia sinensis) which is used as a functional beverage and a component of dietary supplements.
Graziose
Rocky
R
Rutgers University, 59 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
Lila
Mary Ann
MA
Raskin
Ilya
I
D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002392:Catechin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004224:Diterpenes / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004852:Epoxy Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055951:Functional Food; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000379:methods*; D010616:Phenanthrenes / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D004224:Diterpenes; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D004852:Epoxy Compounds; D010616:Phenanthrenes; C001899:triptolide; C001898:tripdiolide; D002392:Catechin; C031327:artemisinin; C045651:epigallocatechin gallate