Plant breeding strategy for plants used for the purification of natural products

Meanwhile the pharmaceutical industry has largely moved away from plant-derived natural products because of the advent of a huge variety of organo-chemical and bio-technological methodologies. These methodologies enable a shorter timeframe for the scale up of a substance from early development to launch and ensure a more robust supply. Herbal raw materials contain between about 0.01 up to some per cents of the natural product needed. This content is the basic default for the amounts needed for supply. An increase of this content has a direct input in the efficiency of the extraction process. Next to the screening of its distribution in the different plant parts the processability of the extraction from these plant parts has to be evaluated. After the decision which plant part should be used, the development of the extraction process should lead to the evaluation of possible „impurities“ which cause a laborious separation. Next to an increase of the natural product the reduction of these substances is the focus of the breeding program. Quality management tools like e.g. „Quality function deployment“ (QFD) should be installed to ensure a systematic approach. Further more measures to carry out the botanical rating should be specified in clear and reproducible dimensions. Project plans with clear defined mile stones and decision trees used to decide how to continue if an experiment fails are even valuable tools to ensure the success of each project. A systematic and strict management opens up the possibility to let natural products come back to the forefront.