New Approach for the Development of Improved Traditional Medicine: Case of a Preparation of an Oral Hypoglycemic Medicine from Laportea ovalifolia (Schumach. & Thonn.) Chew. (Urticaceae)
Received Date: Jun 22, 2015 / Accepted Date: Jul 15, 2015 / Published Date: Jul 22, 2015
Abstract
A majority of Africans rely on traditional medicine as the primary form of health care. Yet most traditional medicine products have a short shelf life, especially for water-based formulations such as macerations, infusions and decoctions. Indeed, many of these water extracts become unfit for human consumption after five to seven days of conservation either because of the degradation or toxicity of active components, and/or the growth of pathogenic organisms. The purpose of this study was to describe and apply a new approach for the development of an improved traditional medicine (ITM) that is cheap, very efficient, not toxic, and easy to produce, and that can be conserved for a longer time without a significant loss of activity. Hence, Laportea ovalifolia was selected from an ethnobotanical prospection in all regions of Cameroon, and was used to prepare an oral hypoglycemic product. This preparation required 9 steps focused on the characterization of the plant species, and the standardization of the ethnopharmacological preparation by a multidisciplinary team of scientists with expertise in botany, ecology, pharmacognosy and pharmacology. Resultantly, four galenic formulations of hypoglycemic medications were produced. A relationship between these four formulations was described as follow: One spoon of oral suspension (10 ml)=one sachet of powder=2 tablets=3 capsules. Hence, our research provides new insight into a drug discovery approach that could alleviate the major problems affecting traditional medicine and enhance its effectiveness in addressing health care in developing and undeveloped countries.
Keywords: Improved traditional medicine; New production strategy; Oral hypoglycemic phytodrug; Sustainable exploitation
Citation: Tsabang N, Kadjob S, Mballa RN, Yedjou CG, Nnanga N, et al. (2015) New Approach for the Development of Improved Traditional Medicine: Case of a Preparation of an Oral Hypoglycemic Medicine from Laportea ovalifolia (Schumach. & Thonn.) Chew. (Urticaceae). J Mol Pharm Org Process Res 3: 125. Doi: 10.4172/2329-9053.1000125
Copyright: ©2015 Tsabang N, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License; which permits unrestricted use; distribution; and reproduction in any medium; provided the original author and source are credited.
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