Translational research – an integral part of rational herbal drug development

In the past, herbal drug development was often based on ethnopharmacological experiences and traditional use. Due to over the years increasing regulatory demands, innovative new herbal drug development becomes more and more cost intensive and therefore less affordable. Therefore, there are only very few new herbal medicinal drugs that have been developed and registered during the last years.

To overcome these problems, new approaches need to adopted. Herbal extracts with recognized traditional or well-established use, however, possess often a well-defined and beneficial safety profile and mostly an established galenics. That minimizes the required preclinical effort, when these extracts are developed in new indications (use extension).

Systematic evaluation of pharmacological targets is a new promising way of rational herbal drug development in order to exploit the full therapeutic potential of medicinal plants. Examples of such translational research are discussed for Hypericum perforatum (HP) and Cimicifuga racemosa (CR) including treatment of neuropathic pain (HP) and antidiabetic and antiproliferative effects (CR), respectively.