Bioprospecting of Phytodiversity for New Therapeutic Products Trends, Potential and Challenges

Plants have remained the major source of medicines, nutrition and other health-care products since antiquity. In modern age, it is widely realized that scientific exploration of vast phytodiversity may provide many more effective therapeutic products for tackling challenging health problems. Researchers and pharmaceutical industries are gearing to discover hitherto unknown medicinal plants to develop new scientifically tested recipes for more effective treatment of specific illness for which no satisfactory cure is available to date. During the past few decades, prospecting of medicinal plant diversity has become the focal activity of several R&D and industrial sector across the world with the realization that it is likely to result in new lead discovery thus providing an extensive economic opportunity for pharmaceutical industries. Traditional knowledge yet confined among indigenous peoples has a crucial role in prospecting of phytodiversity. However, the future resource potential of phytodiversity and opportunities for bioprospecting industries will depend on many factors, ranging from the conservation status to the trends in a variety of markets. Therefore a well-regulated approach to phytodiversity prospecting is vital to achieve the joint goals of ecosystem conservation and social and economic development through partnerships and benefit-sharing. The paper discusses about potential, scope and challenges of phytodiversity prospecting.