The value of plants used in traditional medicine for drug discovery.

@article{Fabricant2001TheVO,
  title={The value of plants used in traditional medicine for drug discovery.},
  author={Daniel S. Fabricant and N. R. Farnsworth},
  journal={Environmental Health Perspectives},
  year={2001},
  volume={109},
  pages={69 - 75}
}
In this review we describe and discuss several approaches to selecting higher plants as candidates for drug development with the greatest possibility of success. We emphasize the role of information derived from various systems of traditional medicine (ethnomedicine) and its utility for drug discovery purposes. We have identified 122 compounds of defined structure, obtained from only 94 species of plants, that are used globally as drugs and demonstrate that 80% of these have had an ethnomedical… 
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