Chinese herbal medicine-derived products for prevention or treatment of diseases affecting quality of life

Abstract

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been used for several thousands of years to treat human illness, which makes CHM the best source to provide valuable and unique information for modern drug discovery and development. Development of CHM products as adjunct therapies to augment the efficacy and offset the toxicity of Western medicine is an excellent approach for rapid advancement into US FDA-approved new drugs. Developing CHM products as high-quality dietary supplements must particularly emphasize standardization through qualitative and quantitative quality controls on single herbs and multiple herbs of the prescription formulas by using the most advanced scientific technology, especially toxicity profile testing. A combination of advanced medicinal chemistry and natural products chemistry, coupled with cutting-edge life science technology, will play a very important role for converting CHM products, especially the pure single active principles, through modification and synthesis into clinical trial candidates very efficiently and effectively. This chapter presents ten case studies of promising new drug discovery resulting from CHM-derived products: compounds from Curcuma longa (Jiang Huang), Antrodia camphorata (Chang-ku), Apium graveolens (Han Qin), Momordica charantia (Ku Gua), Monascus purpureus (Hong Chi), Astragalus membranaceus (Huang Chi), Scutellaria decoction (Huang Chin Tang), Eucommia ulmoides (Tu Chung), Ligusticum wallichii (Chuan Chiung), and Lycium barbarum (Kou Chi Tzu).