The use of herbal plants and mushroom extracts/compounds as medicines has a long history in the treatment of various diseases and is now globally accepted in the form of pharmaceuticals and functional foods.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of the world populations presently use herbal medicine for primary health care because of its time tested safety and efficacy (1). Scientific research and interest in herbal plant and mushroom extract is on the rise and as a source of new compounds for drugs is becoming a global trend in the pharmaceutical industry (2).
This article was to provide readers with an inside look into the novel herbal plants and mushroom extracts so that they can develop a sense of the current state of research in this field on drug development.
Herbal Plant and Mushroom Extracts For Pharmaceuticals
Today, herbal plant products and their derivatives represent more than 50% of all the drugs in modern therapeutics and approximately 80% of antimicrobial, anticancer, cardiovascular and immunosuppressive drugs are of plant origin (3). This led to a discussion in several herbal plants and mushroom extracts for pharmaceutical potential.
Cannabis-Based Drugs in Development
Cannabis is a plant of the cannabaceae family and contains more than eighty/80 biologically active chemical compounds. Currently, medical cannabis products have been approved in thirty-three/33 states and eleven/11 legal recreational marijuana state plus Washington DC in the United States.
In recent years, cannabinoids have been extensively studied for their potential pharmaceutical effect. As of 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved one cannabis-derived and three cannabis-related drug products that are being used for several medical conditions, such as AIDS wasting syndrome, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, treatment of spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, and cancer as well as chemotherapy-induced nausea.
FDA Approved Cannabis-Derived Drugs
Epidiolex is the first FDA approved cannabis-derived drug, which contains a purified form of the drug substance cannabidiol (CBD) for the treatment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) or Dravet syndrome (DS), two rare and severe forms of epilepsy that don’t respond to antiseizure medications. That means the FDA has concluded that this particular drug product is safe and effective for its intended use (4).
FDA Approved Three Cannabinoid-Related Products
1 Marinol (Dronabinol)
Marinol is indicated for treatment of anorexia associated with weight loss in patients with AIDS, and nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy in patients who have failed to respond adequately to conventional antiemetic treatments.
2 Syndros – (Liquified Dronabinol)
This is the FDA approved new liquid formulation of dronabinol. Indications are the same as Marinol.
3 Cesamet (Nabilone)
Cesamet (Nabilone) is a synthetic cannabinoid an antiemetic for oral administration. Antiemetics are medicines that help prevent or treat chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV)(5).
Other Medical Cannabis Drugs in Development
For pharmaceutical industries, with a gradual revising of laws and regulations, a host of drug developers are researching cannabinoids as a potential treatment for certain psychological and neurological disorders. It is a promising choice to develop more CBD-derived herbal medicines as novel drug products for the U.S. market. These drug developers are:
GW Pharmaceuticals is a UK based public company. It is best known for its Sativex (naxibimol) oromucosal spray of a formulated extract (CBD) of the cannabis plant. It was approved for use in the UK 2010. Several other countries followed.
Corbus Pharmaceuticals is a US based Phase 3 clinical-stage pharmaceutical company working on a new drug called Anabasum. This synthetic oral endocannabinoid-mimetic drug binds to the CB2 receptor expressed on activated immune cells and fibroblasts.
Cara Therapeutics is another US b...
(All Rights Reserved)