n overview of Standardization of Herbal Drugs

Abstract

Since time immemorial man has been using herbs/ plant products as medicine for developing immunity or resis- tance against diseases. The quality of herbal drugs in terms of concentration of active principles or efficacy of herbal drugs depends on many factors like climate, region of cultivation, season of collection, treatment given during collection and storage etc. Because of commercial gains, adulteration and substitution is quite normal. As a result the quality of herbal drugs and products is highly variable and necessitates the need for quality control stud- ies of raw material. Processing technology of herbal drugs is in infancy. Global marketing has also created aware- ness towards validation of plant based drugs. Validation is a relatively new concept in pharmaceutical manufactur- ing to ensure total quality management and to assure products of best quality. Various parameters used to con- duct validation of plant drugs are discussed.