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Herb-drug interactions: challenges and opportunities for improved predictions
Scott J Brantley1, Aneesh A Argikar, Yvonne S Lin
1Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (S.J.B.); Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Temple University School of Pharmacy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (A.A.A., S.N.); Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (Y.S.L.); and College of Pharmacy, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington (M.F.P.).
Drug Metabolism and Disposition: the Biological Fate of Chemicals
|December 17, 2013
Summary
Herbal products can interact with conventional drugs by affecting how the body processes them. A systematic approach is needed to predict and evaluate these herb-drug interactions for patient safety.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Natural Products Chemistry
- Drug Metabolism
Background:
- Herbal products are increasingly used alongside conventional medicines, often without provider knowledge.
- The perception of
- natural
- products as safe leads to self-administration and potential herb-drug interactions.
- Existing methods for evaluating herb-drug interactions are insufficient due to product variability and limited constituent data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the challenges in evaluating herb-drug interactions.
- To propose a systematic methodology for assessing the interaction potential of herbal products.
- To emphasize the need for understanding constituent pharmacokinetics in herb-drug interactions.
Main Methods:
- Identifying individual constituents from herbal products.
- Characterizing the interaction potential of these constituents.
- Integrating data into in silico models to estimate constituent pharmacokinetics.
Main Results:
- Herb-drug interactions can occur when herbal products affect drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters.
- Variability in herbal composition and limited pharmacokinetic data complicate interaction evaluation.
- A systematic approach is proposed using constituent identification and in silico modeling.
Conclusions:
- A standardized system for predicting and evaluating herb-drug interactions is currently lacking.
- Systematic evaluation requires identifying and characterizing individual herbal constituents.
- Proposed methodology using in silico models can help identify potential herb-drug interactions, aiding consumer and clinician decision-making.
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