ABSTRACT
Natural medicines (NMs) have been all-pervasive in human civilisation for millennia. Variability in efficacy and safety of NM could result from such differences in quality. NMs are defined by Segen’s Medical Dictionary as ‘Any substance used in an unadulterated state to manage a condition or evoke a desired change in person’s physical or mental status’. NMs are preventive or therapeutic products of mineral, plant or animal origin, used singly or in combination for defined medical indications. The path of reverse pharmacology was chosen for a nationwide major NM discovery endeavour by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research under its New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative. NMs are derived from the natural products/drugs of the traditional systems of medicine and also from macronutrients and micronutrients that have non-nutritional medical indications. In addition, the number of categories of NM and their immense diversity in world cultures, historical eras and climatic zones have also presented a formidable challenge to therapeutic research.
