1.1INTRODUCTION
The research and development (R&D) of medicines is a strategic activity for all countries. Pharmaceutical products are important not only to treat people's diseases but also for preventive health care. The economic expenditures in the R&D of medicines are very high and have grown consistently over the years, being a complex mix of public and private funding [1]. On average, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) pharmaceutical companies spent about 14% of their gross value added in R&D. The pharmaceutical industry applies the knowledge gained from basic research to develop the medicines, and perform the clinical assays on a large scale, to get approval from regulating agencies. Although most R&D works are carried out in developed countries, the participation of developing nations is increasing [1]. Therefore, it is important to attempt to build adequate legal, technical, and scientific basesâamong othersâso that the R&D of suitable medicines may be possible, especially in developing countries.
Brazil, in this scenario, unfortunately, does not have good performance, being a country almost totally dependent on imports in the medicine area, with few examples of local products. According to estimates, around 95% of pharmaceutical raw materials, pharmaceutical active ingredients, adjuvants, and even finished medicines consumed in our country are imported [2]. Currently, well marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of autonomy for the independent manufacture of local pharmaceutical products is much more striking. It places the Brazilian population at the mercy of commercial negotiations with international vaccine producers and evident competition for their purchase. The same occurs with other categories of drugs and pharmaceutical inputs used in the treatment of COVID-19.
Among the various possible sources of drug manufacturing, plant species stand out, accounting for about 20% of the most widely used medicines in the world. Herbs also mainly provide model molecules for the synthesis of new drugs, raw material for semi-synthesis, and even in the form of standardised plant extracts that make up herbal products [3].
This book is contextualised with the following objective: to reinforce and improve drug research and, in particular, to contribute to the development of phytomedicines (herbal medicines), presenting concepts and technologies suitable for this class of products. Brazil has an impressive biodiversity, expressed in about 46,000 species of plants and more than 116,000 species of animals recognised today [4]. Theoretically, this contingent of species should translate into an equally significant number of pharmaceutical products based on vegetal species, but it has not been happening.
Theoretically, this number of species should reflect an equally significant number of herbal medicines on the market, which unfortunately did not happen. In this chapter, we seek to explore the historical and current relationships between research usually carried out in public universities and the phytopharmaceutical industry. Thus, it is expected to contribute to understanding problems and weaknesses and point out present and future challenges and opportunities of the herbal medicine sector, which we hope will be more productive.
1.2HISTORY OF R&D ON MEDICINAL PLANTS: THE BRAZILIAN KNOW-HOW
Medicinal plants have been used in all cultures since antiquity. Archaeological and historical evidence, such as that found on an Egyptian papyrus from Ebers (c. 1600 BC) and on cuneiform clay tablets from the Ashurbanipal Library (c. 650 BC), indicate the use of herbal remedies. Physicians such as Hippocrates (406â377 BC), Galen (129â199 DC), Avicenna (980â1037 DC), and Paracelsus (1493â1541 DC), to name a few, have also described the therapeutic properties of medicinal herbs [5â7]. However, the use of natural products as therapeutic agents seems to be much older. According to Hardy and colleagues, Neanderthals (30,000â24,000 years ago) already possessed a sophisticated knowledge of the selection and use of herbs for health purposes [8].
Brazil has a long tradition in the herbal medicine area since Colonial and Imperial times [9, 10], mostly linked to its huge biodiversity [11], a potential source of dyes, fragrance, aroma, flavours, cosmetics, perfumes, insecticides, and medicines. Brazilian biodiversity is distributed in six biomes: the Amazon Forest, the Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, Cerrado, Pampas, and the Pantanal.
The first description of Brazilian natural wealth is in the letter that Pero Vaz de Caminha, scribe of the fleet, sent to D. ManoelâKing of Portugalâshortly after the arrival of the Portuguese fleet in 1500. The letter is considered the birth certificate of Brazil [12]. Aware of the wealth of the new colony and the impossibility of defending it, Portugal adopted a restrictive policy, prohibiting the entry of any foreigner into the t...
