2007-01-04 10:14:56 · 2 answers · asked by Robert G 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Botany
"Farnsworth and Bingel's (1977) estimate remains correct if phrased as: 25% of modern prescription drugs contain at least one compound now or once derived or patterned after compounds derived from higher plants. "
2007-01-04 10:29:36 · answer #1 · answered by ivorytowerboy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A lot of pharmaceuticals are based on plant medicine. Look at your cold medications - you find menthol (oil of mint) eucalyptus oil, lemon or citric acid derived from it, camphor (from the camphor laurel) even pseudoephedrine is a chemical mockup of ephedrine, from the ephedra plant used in Chinese medicine for coughs and colds.
Plants produce an enormous variety of compounds, some of which are pharmaceutically useful, and are either used direct, or a chemical copy is made (if that is cheaper and easier)
There are many more compounds out there to be explored and hopefully used.
2007-01-04 23:01:10 · answer #2 · answered by Greth 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋