Plants of Indian origin in drug discovery

The Indian system of medicine (ISM) consists of several major components such as Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and homeopathy. All these components provide the major healthcare for a large part of the population in India and have been flourishing in this country for many centuries. Medicinal plants constitute a major part in all of these traditional systems. Several regulations and controls on the use of medicinal plants in traditional medicine have evolved. On the one hand, such regulations will help to cure different aliments through Indian indigenous resources and, on the other hand, they will help in the screening and evaluation of natural resources through the development of potential lead components in order to provide better healthcare through ISM. Several lead molecules have been developed from ISM. This review aims at highlighting aspects of drug development from Indian medicinal plants through the use of ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology and systems biology, with different approaches using metabolomics and allied fields.