Safety and Regulatory Issues on Traditional Medicine Entrusted Drug Discovery

Traditional medicine refers to the therapeutic approach of diagnosing, treating or preventing ailments with the aid of knowledge acquired through ancient practices and beliefs using phytocompounds and animal- or mineral-based compounds, applied singularly or as a combination. Around 70–95% people living in Asian, African, Latin American and Middle East countries have been utilizing indigenous knowledge as traditional medical practice for health care. Different practices are adopted in different parts of the world for traditional medicines and are given in the form of dietary supplements, health foods, functional foods, phytoprotectants, over-the-counter medicines, etc. Remarkably, the interest in traditional medical systems has increased globally owing to increased cost of modern medicines associated with development of drug resistance as well as lack of treatment to several chronic and emerging diseases. Nevertheless, all medicines have their own adverse effects and indigenous medicines are no exception. Most of the reported side effects of traditional medicines arise due to failures in identifying precise plants, adopting good manufacturing practices, standardizing products and preventing contamination of products and also because of incorrect preparations. Along with this, certain other factors including soil quality, temperature, light, plant age and time of harvest also influence the quality of traditional medicines. Keeping these flaws in mind, if meticulous scientific approach with focussed attention to ensure quality, safety and efficacy of traditional medicines is adopted, it will certainly benefit mankind to overcome the consistently increasing threat of drug resistance for modern medicine. The current chapter presents discussion on the safety and regulatory issues associated with practice of traditional medicines and appraise the operational approaches towards entrusted drug discovery.