Hi Pallavi,

   Irreproducibility of therapeutic efficiency for complex formulations is the principal reason why reviewers are skeptical about accepting papers on them. However, if you establish unequivocally, through rigorous statistics and by fractionating individual components and showing less potency by them vis-a-vis the complex formulation, you would definetly have a fairly good chance of pushing your work into limelight. I hope the answer helps. As an example of the kind of rigor I am talking about, you can refer to the below specified paper where the authors have shown anti-HIV activity for polyherbal formulations

 Mangaiarkarasi Asokan et al. Evident stabilization of the clinical profile in HIV/AIDS as evaluated in an open-label clinical trial using a polyherbal formulation, Ind J Med Research, 137, 69-85, 2013. 

Thank you for a valuable reply.

Dear Pallavi,

As you said, drugs have been predominantly predicated on elements of plant derived ingredients.  This is amply illustrated in the case of taxol, even though chemical manipulation has been resorted to owing to issues of collecting adequate quantities of plant taxol.  A broad range of condition specific medicines developed from plants appears to mirror the flavonoid (particularly procyanidins) spectrum of the plant. As you point out, evaluation studies of herbal extracts generally have received lukewarm response when considering their publication. 

As Bharath said here, unequivocal and highly reproducible demonstration of the presumed efficacy of an herbal extract might prompt a better receptivity.  Publication of herb related material might also be related to the “popularity” of the herb in question and its visibility and perception in the scientific/biomedical community. The intended journal for publication also matters, whether the particular journal in question publishes a significant number of studies on herbal extracts.  Generally, journals publishing studies on pharmacologic activities of herbal extracts seem to relegate herbal extracts to the rear burner but this scenario is changing. Standardization of a selected extract with a presumptive major ingredient (with a well acknowledged pharmacologic activity and profile) might be viewed favorably. In a different context,  studies on plant extracts (often food or diet derived) such as grape derived or cocoa based extracts have found inclusion even in general biochemistry and pharmacology journals. This may be owing to biologic or pharmacologic activity that is trendy and topical (and presumably also “attractive” and biomedically “popular” at the time that publication is being sought. For instance, studies on the effects plant extracts (and herbal formulations) on conditions such as coronary artery disease or angiogenesis and aspects of cancer metastasis might have better chances of publication. The area of HIV studies, if one may say so, has skyrocketed.  When considering a plethora of journal articles in this area publication largely seems to be disproportionate to that of other health conditions (chronic conditions).  The above mentioned issues seem capricious.

Generally, there have been several publications on the herbs, bilberry and cranberry and melissa.  Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) has also received much attention (particularly sylbins and flavone based drug preparations).  

< Why the future of herbal in the world is still very dark, despite of the fact that only holistic interventions of herbals can mitigate problems like antibiotic resistance? > This might be owing to the issue of intellectual property associated with plant extracts and herbals.  Even though the future of herbals may appear to be bleak things might be bound to modestly change considering the potential role of herbals in integrative medicine. There is a need for systematic evaluation of the beneficial effects of herbal preparations in cancer therapeutics, particularly in tumor progression and metastasis (and therapy of cancers refractory to medicines, prostate cancer being an example).

You have mentioned the issue of antibiotic resistance.  Studies have indicated that Vitamin D might be useful in antagonizing antibiotic resistance.  Vitamin D has been historically employed to treat infections and is conceived to have “antibiotic” effects.  Epidemiologic studies associate vitamin D deficiency with increased susceptibility to infection.  A synergy has been observed between natural products including flavonoids and synthetic medicines in attenuating mycobacterial, fungal and bacterial infections. Robust studies of herbal extracts, well controlled for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and pathogens, aimed at evaluating their potential efficaciousness in abating antibiotic resistance are warranted.

Dear Chithan C Kandaswami,

Great Reply.

Thank you very much. The response presented here is definitely appropriate and i agree to all that you have said. Thanks for shedding some light on all the bleaky issues regarding herbal drug development. Thank you very much. :)