The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 264 No 7084 p282
February 19, 2000 News

Project finds 200 new traditional medicines from Bhutan

A European Community funded project to identify Bhutanese medicinal plants has identified 200 candidates for possible development for use in the developed world as herbal medicines. The aim of the project is to improve health care in Bhutan by developing local horticultural resources into marketable commodities so that the country can afford modern medical technology. In all, some 600 medicinal plants used in Bhutanese traditional medicine were identified. The 200 for possible development are those most frequently used by the local medicine men, the Dungtshos.

Inula racemosa, now being grown by Bhutanese farmers, is used as a painkiller and for relieving stomach problems

High Value Horticulture (HVH), a subsidiary company of Oxford Natural Products Plc, is now seeking pharmaceutical partners to develop the products to Western standards.
HVH told The Journal on February 15 that a new system which took account of such variables as plant science, chemistry and biology, would make it possible to define and standardise natural products in a way that had previously been impossible. It was at the standardisation stage that most plant pharmaceuticals failed to meet the demands of regulatory authorities. This was particularly true for traditional medicines based on whole plants and herbs.