ABSTRACT
74Pharmacology studies origin, nature, chemistry, effects, and uses of drugs. It includes pharmacognosy (medicinal drugs from plants), pharmacokinetics (interactions of a drug and the body in terms of its absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion), pharmacodynamics (branch concerned with the effect of the drugs on the body), pharmacotherapeutics (branch concerned with the therapeutic use of specific drugs), and toxicology. Even though conventional drugs go through this scientific screening before being in the market, drug-related adverse outcome continues to increase every year. Patients worry about adverse effects and toxicity of many conventional drugs and the inability of conventional medicine (CM) to provide adequate clinical effectiveness for chronic diseases, and are looking for more natural treatments and products over chemical drugs. Traditional Indian medicine (TIM) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are the most ancient yet living traditions, with a strong philosophical basis and can play an important role in new therapies and drug discovery. For this to happen it is crucial not only to give traditional knowledge modern science evidence but also to enlighten modern science with traditional knowledge. The current strategy of drug development of single target–single compound is not suitable for studies on traditional medicines. Pharmacology needs to be reinvented possibly within methods like reverse pharmacology, network pharmacology, genomics, and computational tools, to understand TIM/TCM combinatorial formula rules where each herb plays a different role during treatment. Almost half of TIM/TCM botanical sources have similarities and both medicines have similar philosophies toward individuals, materials, and diseases. Plants are compositional complex mixtures of chemicals and studying them is a challenge. Integrative and interdisciplinary approach may be the key to study them. While herbals well- documented data arises urges the need for new classification, as they have a bigger role than just food supplements. If TIM, TCM, and CM are able to put their egos apart and work together as one we will converge into the medicine of the future with newer, safer, cheaper, and effective therapies, where all the knowledge is integrated in a scientific and holistic view while remembering the importance of individual responsibility for achieving health.
