Issues with plant derived drugs

Question 1

why may there be an problem with availability of starting material

Answer 1

crops are unreliable. season dependent a big issue when need supply of drug

Question 2

how can populations change when a plant becomes commercialised as a herbal medicine or when one of its constituents is developed as a pharmaceutical drug, ?

Answer 2

its populations become threatened due to extensive and unsustainable harvesting techniques

Question 3

how can environment be threatened?

Answer 3

deforestation for field to harvest huge amounts of one plant type

Question 4

how does the ways of agriculture market/pricing cause an issue in plant derived drug production?

Answer 4

huge fluctuation in the price of the plant dependent on yield. uncertainty in drug supply annually

Question 5

how can this issue be solved?

Answer 5

finding a synthetic, artificial way to produce the drug

Question 6

what another example of synthetic production?

Answer 6

use of nanotechnology to improve solubility, stability, cellular uptake/internalisation efficacy

Question 7

how can extracting the key active component from complex mixture be challenging?

Answer 7

molecules may be produced in very low concentrations in the plants naturally
Molecules are often secondary metabolites
chiral separation is challenging and expensive

Question 8

why is the efficacy is frequently scarce?

Answer 8

because of low hydrophilicity, and/or physical or chemical instability.

Question 9

what issues are common with the final plant derived drugs themselves?

Answer 9

they can have low absorption, scarce biodistribution, extensive first-pass metabolism, poor targeting and accumulation in the organs of the body.

Question 10

what is essential for production of the engineered derivatives that are required to improve on nature?

Answer 10

Understanding the mechanism of action