~ 21 ~ International Journal of Herbal Medicine 2014; 2 (1): 21-24 ISSN 2321-2187 IJHM 2014; 2 (1): 21-24 Received: 29-02-2014 Accepted: 26-03-2014 Thillaivanan.S Asst. Medical Officer (Siddha), GPHC, Jamunamarathur, TV Malai dist., Tamil Nadu, India. Email: drthillai.mdsiddha@gmail.com Tel: +91 80 560 40 768 Samraj.K Lecturer, Velumailu Siddha Medical College, Sriperumbudur. Correspondence: Thillaivanan.S Asst. Medical Officer (Siddha), GPHC, Jamunamarathur, TV Malai dist., TamilNadu, India. Email: drthillai.mdsiddha@gmail.com Tel: +91 80 560 40 768 Challenges, Constraints and Opportunities in Herbal Medicines – A Review Thillaivanan.S, Samraj.K ABSTRACT Herbal medicine and their preparations have been widely used for the thousands of years in developing and developed countries. Herbal medicines are the synthesis of therapeutic experiences on generations of practicing physicians in indigenous systems of medicine, for over hundreds of years. They are also in great demand in the developed world all health care problems because of their efficacy, safety and lesser side effects. India is sitting on a gold mine of well-recorded and well- practiced knowledge of traditional herbal medicine. The Indian systems of medicine i.e., Siddha, Ayurveda & Unani mainly encompass herbal medicines along with herbo-mineral formulations. The preparations are either as single herbs or as collections of herbs in composite formulae. This may be the main reason why quality control of oriental herbal drugs is more difficult than that of western drug. The quantity and quality of the safety and efficacy data on traditional medicine are far from sufficient to meet the criteria needed to support its use world-wide. This review article, discusses these constraints and challenges in relation to conservation, science and technology, use of herbal medicine, drug production sector, safety and efficacy and also the opportunities of herbal medicine in local and global level. Keywords: Siddha Medicine, medicinal plants, safety & efficacy, standardization, drug adulteration, quality control. 1. Introduction Herbal medicines and their preparations have been widely used traditionally, for the thousands of years in developing and developed countries owing to its natural origin and lesser side effects or dissatisfaction with the results of synthetic drugs. One of the characteristics of oriental herbal medicine preparations is that all the herbal medicines, either presenting as single herbs or as collections of herbs in composite formulae [1] . The traditional preparations comprise medicinal plants, minerals, organic matter, etc. Herbal drugs constitute mainly those traditional medicines which primarily use medicinal plant preparations for therapy [2] . These drugs are made from renewable resources of raw materials by eco-friendly processes and will bring economic prosperity to the masses growing these raw materials [3] . India is known as the “Emporium of Medicinal plants” due to availability of several thousands of medicinal plants in the different bioclimatic zones [4] . Medicinal plants continue to provide valuable therapeutic agents, both in modern medicine and in traditional systems of medicine . Attention is being focused on the investigation of efficacy of plant based drugs used in the traditional medicine because they are economy, have a little side effects and according to W.H.O, about 80% of the world population rely mainly on herbal remedies [5] . The World Health Organization has recently defined traditional medicine (including herbal drugs) as comprising therapeutic practices that have been in existence, often for hundreds of years, before the development and spread of modern medicine and are still in use today [6] . The uses of traditional medicines are widely spread and plants represent a large source of natural chemicals that might serve as leads for the development of the novel drugs [7] . Scientists have devised different ways of alienating the problem and one of the easy and cheapest options is herbal medicines. Herbs have been in use since long time to treat various diseases [8] . Almost one fourth of pharmaceutical drugs are derived from botanicals. For example, the first drug effective against gastric ulcer was carbenoxolone, discovered as a result of research on a commonly used indigenous plant, Glycyrrhiza glabra, called ‘Athimadhuram’ in Siddha medicine [9] . Studies on cabbage lead to the development of Gefarnate [10] . As a result, herbal medicine has led to the innovation of an amount of fresh drugs, and non-drug substances. So, it is the occasion to bash the door to catch more & more opportunities after removing the challenges and constraints in the herbal medicines.