МОНОГРАФИИ ВОЗ Т 4

WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants. Vol. 4.

1. Plants, Medicinal. 2. Angiosperms. 3. Medicine, Traditional. I. WHO Consultation on Selected Medicinal Plants (4th: 2005: Salerno-Paestum, Italy) II. World Health Organization.

© World Health Organization 2009

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Contents

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Acknowledgements

Special acknowledgement is due to Professor Norman R. Farnsworth, Professor Harry H.S. Fong, and Professor Gail B. Mahady of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, for drafting and revising the monographs. Special acknowledgement is also due to Dr Raymond Boudet-Dalbin of the Laboratoire de Chimie Thérapeutique, University of René Descartes, Paris, France, for drawing the chemical structures and for compiling the index of major chemical constituents including information on their molecular formula and CAS numbers. The photograph for the front cover was kindly provided by the Research Center for Medicinal Plant Resources, National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, Tsukuba City, Japan.

WHO also acknowledges with thanks the valuable work of the approximately 200 experts including 81 national health authorities, who provided comments and advice on the draft texts; those who submitted comments through the World Self-Medication Industry (a nongovernmental organization in official relations with WHO) and the International Federation of Pharmacists (a nongovernmental organization in official relations with WHO); and those who participated in the Fourth WHO Consultation on Selected Medicinal Plants held in Salerno-Paestum, Italy, in October 2005 to review the monographs (see Annex 1).

Sincere appreciation is extended to the Ministry of Health of Italy, the Government of the Province of Campagna, Italy, the Municipal Government of Salerno, Italy, and the State University of Salerno, who hosted the above-mentioned Fourth WHO Consultation and supported it financially. Finally, WHO wishes to express thanks to Mr Raymond Tsai, Boston, USA, Dr Hermann Garden, Basel, Switzerland, Ms Lynn Morra, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and Ms Tina Lu, Rochester, USA, for their indispensable assistance in finalizing and editing the manuscripts.

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Introduction

Increasing role of the WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants

Over the past two decades, there has been a tremendous increase in the use of herbal medicine; however, there is still a significant lack of research data in this field. Therefore since 1999, WHO has published three volumes of the WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants: volume 1 includes 28 monographs; volume 2 contains an additional 30 monographs; and volume 3 provides 31 monographs. Including the 28 new monographs published in this volume, a total of 118 monographs in four volumes are now available on the WHO web site (http://www.who.int/medicinedocs/ en/m/abstract/Js14213e/).

Due to the diversity of medicinal plants and herbal medicines, it is difficult for WHO to continue to develop more monographs on commonly used medicinal plants. One of the objectives of WHO monographs is to provide a model that will support countries in developing their own national or regional monographs on medicinal plants or national formularies on herbal medicines. Experts can be trained through the process of developing country-specific or regional monographs, and national capacity in this field can thus be built up.

For example, at WHO’s regional training workshop on regulation of herbal medicines held for the WHO European Region, in September 2003, the participating national drug regulatory authorities of many of the Newly Independent States (NIS) submitted their request to WHO directly, for assistance in the development of monographs on medicinal plants commonly used in NIS.

In order to respond to their urgent need, WHO initiated a new project to develop a set of regional (NIS) monographs on commonly used medicinal plants, based on available scientific information relating to their safety, efficacy and quality, which will facilitate the creation of effective and practical regulatory and quality assurance measures on herbal medicines. WHO has been working with 15 national drug regulatory authorities interested in this publication in NIS, Countries of Central and Eastern

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Introduction

Europe (CCEE) and their neighbouring countries, in close collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. The 13 new monographs on commonly used medicinal plants in NIS have been drafted based on the format of the WHO monographs by the experts in NIS and CCEE countries with the support of experts, national health authorities and NGOs within and also outside the NIS and CCEE countries. The WHO monographs on medicinal plants commonly used in NIS have been completed and will be published soon. Based on the NIS countries model, in the future, WHO would like to cooperate with more countries or regions to develop their monographs on commonly used medicinal plants.

Preparation of monographs for volume 4

Selection of medicinal plants

The selection of medicinal plants for inclusion in the WHO monographs is based on worldwide use. The medicinal plants selected must meet two major criteria: (1) they must be in common use in at least two WHO Regions; and (2) there must be sufficient scientific data available to satisfy the requirements of the various sections in the monograph format.

The recommended selection criteria discussed at the Third WHO Consultation on Selected Medicinal Plants (Ottawa, Canada, July 2001) were applied to the preparation of volume 4 of the WHO monographs.

Preparation

During the preparation of volume 4, more than 200 experts were involved in addition to members of WHO’s Expert Advisory Panel on Traditional Medicine, a significant expansion compared to the numbers involved in the previous three volumes. National drug regulatory authorities in 81 countries participated in the process, again a greater number than for the previous volumes. This global network of active players facilitated wider access to the available scientific references and information, in terms of both quality and quantity. This considerable level of support contributed greatly to the efficiency of the preparation process.

The Fourth WHO Consultation on Selected Medicinal Plants was held in Salerno-Paestum, Italy, in October 2005 to review and finalize the draft monographs. Thirty-four experts and drug regulatory authorities from WHO Member States participated (Annex 1). Following extensive discussion, 28 of the 32 draft monographs were adopted for inclusion.

Changes in format in volume 4

A description of selected sections of the monographs is given in the General technical notices, which reflect the above-mentioned format

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