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Medicinal plants | Synthetic drugs |
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Strengths | (i) Broad-spectrum, (ii) Holistic-integrating emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects | (i) Long historical records | (i) Mechanism of active compound known, targeted | (i) Stringent in vivo studies |
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Weakness | (i) Quality maintenance (ii) Raw material adulteration issues (iii) Possible toxic effect (if not well prepared) (iv) Efficacy due to multiple ingredient/not single molecule dependent | (i) Mechanism complicated (or unknown) (ii) Bioavailability and true efficacy in vivo | (i) (Long-term) side effect/s | (i) Short history (>200 years) |
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Opportunities | (i) Second opinion (ii) Low-cost production, free to use, less side effect (iii) Amenable for genetic modifications for engineering plant metabolites can be helpful for developing a specific drug (iv) Prospects for scalability and safety | (i) Antioxidant properties for chronic diseases, off-shelf remedies (ii) Preservation of medicinal plant biodiversity in the world (iii) Opportunity to developing countries (iv) Oral formulation development | (i) Infrastructures available (ii) Immediate gains | (i) Industries ready to absorb the drug for sale |
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Challenges | (i) Quantification (dosage-not well defined) (ii) Development of formulations for better bioavailability | (i) Harmonization to western medicine (ii) Limited funds availability (iii) Regulations (iv) Skilled manpower | (i) New drugs development and validation take years | (i) Dominant by big pharma |
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