• CELLMED
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.8.1-8.4
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• 2011

Medicinal plants and their products are popular in Estonia. There are two approaches to use of herbal products: first, that based on traditions and practical experience and, second, that supported by scientific evidence. It is important to marry these two approaches. One place where traditions and new knowledge could meet is the pharmacy. In this study we evaluated knowledge about the use and safety of herbal products of pharmacy customers in South-Estonia. A convenience sample of pharmacy customers in south Estonia (n = 196) participated in the study. Of the survey participants, 76% were frequent or occasional users of herbal products and considered these products safe (75%) and effective (73%). Herbal products were mostly (91%) consumed for prophylaxis or treatment of minor illnesses. Main information sources about herbal products were pharmacists (75%) and package information leaflets (65%). Mode of action (95%), administration (81%) and indication (77%) were the information details more frequently sought from the pharmacy about herbal products. Of the survey participants, 22% described some problems connected with the use of herbal products. Herbal products are popular in Estonia and pharmacists have an important role in counselling on these products. Despite knowledgeable use of herbal products and infrequent experience of side effects with these products, safety issues should be more stressed in the providing of information details to pharmacy customers.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.14-24
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• 2000

Objectives : To direct methods of management and development of herbs and their derived products, and at the end of this study to inform the process of making new herbal drug regulations in Korea. Methods : This study analyzed the regulations and laws of western medicine drugs. Results : We have got some herbal prescriptions which are not in the eleven books of oriental medicine now in use but which have proved effective. We need to establish standards for permissions to produce medical products through those prescriptions. Besides, we need the special permissions to produce herbal products through prescriptions, especially those which have been used to treat incurable diseases. And, we can contribute to globalization of oriental medicine and to well situating of herb products and medicinal acupunctures if we produce them according to international standards. It is thought that herbal medicine has no side effect in the medical society in Korea. But, it is getting popular to administer herbal medicine and western medicine together. Thus, the side effects of taking both medicines at the same time should be documented. Conclusions : Herbal medicines and herbal products should be under the control over the whole process of production, circulation, and sales. Now, it is time for herbal medicine to be known to all over the world. Therefore, herbal medicine must meet and adhere to the standards set by the western society and WHO.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.9-20
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to investigate the actual conditions of herbal medicine products for the establishment of drug utilization review system. To accomplish of the purpose, we investigated medical treatment pay of insurance and consumption of herbal medicine products in pharmacy at jeollabuk-do, two oriental hospital etc. To gain valid and reliable the actual conditions of herbal medicine products, it needed close relationship with oriental hospital, society for manufacture of herbal medicines etc and further study classify herbal medicines by Korean Medicine.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.147-159
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• 2012

Objectives: Systems related to the production, authorization, and listing for insurance of herbal medicine products were compared between South Korea and Taiwan to illuminate herbal medicine products system issues in South Korea. Methods: Papers, and laws and policies related to the production, authorization, and listing for insurance of herbal medicine products in South Korea and Taiwan are analyzed to create the primary documents. The documents from South Korea were screened with the advice of a specialist, while those from Taiwan have been verified through local investigation and with the help of a related specialist. The screened documents were then compared and analyzed in the order of the systems related to the production, authorization, and listing for insurance of herbal medicine products. Results: The systems related to the production of herbal medicine products satisfy GMP requirements in both countries, while Taiwan has more specialized systems related to the production of herbal medicine products and a more strict authorization program as compared to South Korea. While South Korea has most of the herbal medicine products classified as non-prescription drugs, Taiwan has them as prescription drugs. And while South Korea does not allow new herbal medicine products to be listed for insurance, Taiwan allows for once-a-year application toward listing for insurance. Conclusions: In order to ensure the safe and effective use of herbal medicine products, systems related to the production, authorization, and listing for insurance of herbal medicine products are to be established, while the categorization of medicine products principally used by Korean medicine doctors should be prepared. Furthermore, prescription by a Korean medicine doctor for new drugs made with natural products and their listing for insurance need to be encouraged.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.10a
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• pp.87-87
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• 2019

The consumption of herbal medicine and related products (herbal products) have increased in South Korea. At the same time the quality, safety, and efficacy of herbal products is being raised. Currently, the herbal products are standardized and controlled according to the requirements of the Korean Pharmacopoeia, the National Institute of Health and the Ministry of Public Health and Social Affairs. The validation of herbal products and their medicinal component is important, since many of these herbal products are composed of two or more medicinal plants. However, there are no tools to support the validation process. Interest in deep learning has exploded over the past decade, for herbal medicine using algorithms to achieve herb recognition, symptom related target prediction, and drug repositioning have been reported. In this study, individual images of four herbs (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz, Poria cocos Wolf, Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer), actually sold in the market, were achieved. Certain image preprocessing steps such as noise reduction and resize were formatted. After the features are optimized, we applied GoogLeNet_Inception v4 model for herb image recognition. Experimental results show that our method achieved test accuracy of 95%. However, there are two limitations in the current study. Firstly, due to the relatively small data collection (100 images), the training loss is much lower than validation loss which possess overfitting problem. Secondly, herbal products are mostly in a mixture, the applied method cannot be reliable to detect a single herb from a mixture. Thus, further large data collection and improved object detection is needed for better classification.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.185-191
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• 2015

Comparative molecular analysis has been frequently adopted for the authentication of herbal medicines as well as the identification of botanical origins. Roots and rhizomes of the family Umbelliferae have been used as traditional herbal medicines to relieve various symptoms such as inflammation, neuralgia and paralysis in countries of East Asia. Since most herbal medicines of the Umbelliferae roots or rhizomes are generally supplied in the form of dried slices, morphological examination does not often provide sufficient evidence to identify the botanical origin. Using species-specific probes developed by the comparative analysis of nrDNA ITS sequences, a DNA chip was developed to identify herbal medicines for 13 species in the Umbelliferae. The developed DNA Chip proves its potential as a rapid, sensitive and effective tool for authenticating herbal medicines in future.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.77-95
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• 2014

Objectives : This study was to analyze the definitions of herbs, herbal drugs, crude drugs and natural products in the relevant laws and regulations, understand the related problems, and propose directions for improvement. Methods : I analyzed the legal definitions in respect of herbs, herbal drugs, crude drugs and natural products in relevant laws and regulations since 1945, explained the problems, and suggested the solution-considering the academic stance of Traditional Korean Medicine and the dualistic medical and pharmaceutical system. Results : Herbs are defined as "refined things that are cut and dried in their most original state". The definition of crude drugs includes herbs and the "cell contents, secretion, extracts, minerals and other parts of animals and plants that are used medicinally". The concept of natural products is expanded to adding tissue cultures to the definition of crude drugs. Conclusions : The definition of herbs should at least include all products that are "processed, extracted and prepared" as well as contents that consist of various forms of hospital-prepared herbs. The term "herbal drug" corresponds to a traditional term of "drug", and this should be established as a concept to explain "drugs in raw materials that are used to prepare herbs and/or manufacture herbal medicine". The legal definition of herbs should include the concept of crude drugs. Herbal drug preparations and crude drugs should be included in the definition of herbal drugs.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.80-87
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• 2023

Rancidity changes were examined for 6 herbal medicines, namely Persicae Semen, Armeniacae Semen, Lini Semen, Trichosanthis Semen, Arecae Semen, Myristicae Semen known to have relatively high fat content. In order to reduce rancidity of herbal medicines, samples were stored at 3 different conditions of room, refrigerating and freezing temperatures, and the rancidity was measured for 10 months with every 2 month interval. Fat content was extracted by using ethyl ether, and acid values and peroxide values, which are generally accepted indicators of fat rancidity, were measured. When storing Persicae Semen, Lini Semen and Arecae Semen at room temperature, the acid values increased as the storage period increased, and it was higher than when stored in refrigeration or freezing. The measurement of peroxide value showed more significantly higher initial degree of rancidity when Persicae Semen, Trichosanthis Semen, Arecae Semen and Myristicae Semen were stored at room temperature. It was observed that storing herbal medicines in refrigeration or freezing inhibited their rancidity compared to storing them at room temperature. To investigate the quality changes according to rancidity, the analysis of aflatoxins and indicator components showed that aflatoxins B₁ and B₂ were detected in Armeniacae Semen, Arecae Semen and Myristicae Semen, and the amount of amygdalin was well maintained within the specification standard.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.23-41
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• 2014

Objective : The purpose of this study was to lay the groundwork for understanding the details and scope of the legal definition of medicinal products, following the changes in the relevant laws and regulations. This will let readers properly understand the origins of the ongoing conflicts on herbal drugs and new drugs from natural products that are present in the medical field and the medical industry. Possible solutions are proposed in the end. Method : I analyzed the changes in definition of medicinal products since 1945 that have been used in relevant laws and regulations(i.e. Pharmaceutical Affairs Act) and drug approval process(i.e. New Drug Application and Investigational New Drug Application). Results : Legal definition of medicinal products has changed in accordance with the changes in the pharmaceutical industry, such as the establishment of dualistic medical and pharmaceutical System and the introduction of the substance patent. Due to those changes, boundaries of Western medicinal products and health food expanded, while those of herbal medicine products relatively downscaled. Conclusion : Legal definition of medicinal products-i.e. Herbal Drugs, Crude Drugs, and New Drugs from Natural Products-should be reestablished according to academic legitimacy and dualistic medical and pharmaceutical System.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.181-198
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• 2014

Objectives : This study was to analyze definitions of herbal medicinal preparations, crude drug preparations, and new drugs from natural products in the relevant laws and regulations, understand the related problems, and propose directions for improvement. Methods : I analyzed the legal definitions in respect of herbal medicinal preparations, crude drug preparations, and new drugs from natural products in relevant laws and regulations since 1945, explained the problems, and suggested the solution-considering the academic stance of Traditional Korean Medicine and the dualistic medical and pharmaceutical system. Results : Regarding the current laws and regulations that are relevant to herbal medicinal preparations, we should 1) clarify the boundaries between the duty of physicians and that of pharmacists, 2) limit the principles of Korean Medicine as well as the contents of the related textbooks, 3) find a way to protect the intellectual property rights for herbal medicinal preparations, and 4) establish a separate standard for drug classification regarding herbal medicinal preparations. In case of crude drug preparations, we should 1) clarify the meaning and limitations of the phrase, "the point of view of Western medicine," and 2) establish a classification standard for drugs that are used in Korean Medicine and clarify the boundaries between herbal drug preparations and crude drug preparations. Furthermore, laws and regulations apropos of new drugs from natural products do not actually fit the concept of "new drug," and due to subordinate laws, a supplement to a new drug submission is contradictorily misclassified as a new drug from natural products. Conclusions : The problems of legal definitions of herbal medicinal preparations, crude drug preparations, and new drugs from natural products have emerged in the process of giving approval to drugs that are made of herbs and natural products under the dualistic medical and pharmaceutical System. Laws and regulations that differentiate the process of approving herbs that are used in Korean Medicine and the others should be established.