From folklore to pharmacy

By Hayley Bennett2018-08-13T09:33:00

Illustration of plants bearing tablets and drug capsules as flowers

Source: © Peter Crowther Associates / Debut Art Ltd

Although many drugs have in the past come from plants, Hayley Bennett discovers that it’s hard work getting them approved today

Many well-known drugs – from quinine to taxol – have been isolated from plants over the years, but under the FDA’s special ‘botanicals’ pipeline, only two new drugs have been approved since 2004. Problems include the different composition of plants over time and the difficulties isolating the active compounds.