The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7215 p358-361
14 September 2002

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Letters to the Editor

Phytotherapeutics

Ginkgo among the best available phytomedicine

From Professor M. Heinrich

It is gratifying to see The Pharmaceutical Journal's continuous coverage of the area of pharmacognosy and phytotherapeutics. The study by Solomon et al recently summarised in the PJ, "Ginkgo biloba fails to improve memory", (PJ, 24 August, p241) surely is interesting and of relevance to all of us in pharmacy.

However, since it was conducted in a cohort of healthy elderly people, it is of limited clinical relevance. This pharmaceutical use is at best a marginal one in modern rational phytotherapy and therefore the conclusions of your summary leave the wrong impression that Ginkgo biloba is not an appropriate therapy for chronic cognitive disorders. Also, the value of a medication can not be decided upon based on only one clinical study. Overall, standardised extracts of Ginkgo are among the best-documented phytomedicines available. There is a large number of clinical trials which document the effectiveness of standardised extracts of Ginkgo biloba, including a one-year study which demonstrates that Ginkgo biloba extract is beneficial in retarding the progression of symptoms in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.¹

It is also important to characterise the extract used in a clinical study (in this case a double standardised one, to 24 per cent ginkgo-flavone-glycosides and 6 per cent terpene lactones) and not to give only the daily doses and the duration. Such additional phytotherapeutical information is essential for assessing the relevance of the important study by Solomon et al.

Michael Heinrich
Head of the Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy
The School of Pharmacy,
University of London

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