Herbal drugs: In greens, there’s gold
By Macon Ramos-Araneta | Posted on July 15, 2012 |
THE country’s herbal medicine market has grown into a P3-billion industry, and the figure is increasing. Take it from the expert, Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, former Health secretary and now an advocate of herbal medicine.
The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of the world population uses herbal medicines for some aspect of health care.
“So there is massive public acceptance,” Galvez Tan said. “In the Philippines alone, Lagundi is working. The market is thriving. Lagundi even surpassed the No. 1 cough syrup; the same thing with ampalaya. Lagundi has reached sales of P800 million, now nearing P1 billion; ampalaya, P600 If million; and sambong, P300 million.:
“It won’t reach the present time if it (herbal medicine) was not effective,” said Galvez Tan, who had an enviable record of having been involved in community work in far-flung doctorless rural, areas as well as in national and international health planning and programming. He is also an advocate of clinical practices that combine Western medicine and Asian and Filipino traditional medicine.
“If indeed the herbal business is booming, how come there are only ten firms approved by the Health department for use.? asked Galvez Tan.
More acceptable
Galvez Tan said that the herbal medicine industry would be more acceptable if government would enable the creation of law, a governing body like an institute, a board or authority to address all concerns on medicinal plants. “This will amount to a big leap for the industry which pales in comparison to the P100 billion pharmaceutical industry in the country,” he said.
“I wish that government would utilize our medicinal plants for commercial purposes and make money out of it. There should also be for instance, the National Lagundi Board or the Institute for Sambong or Institute for Ampalaya,” said Galvez Tan, author of eight books, including Fruits and Vegetables with Medicinal Properties published in 1983 and Medicinal Fruits & Vegetables published in 1983 and 2008, respectively.
He said the government should give additional funding to the Department of Science and Technology for research on medicinal plants, while noting that it takes P20 million to do research work on a particular medicinal plant.
He said that the government pays little attention to the billion-peso herbal medicine industry. He lamented that all the other DOH secretaries who came after him and even former Senator Juan Flavier did not even bother to add to the existing number of the herbal medicines approved by the department.
“When you look at the global market, the industry is really huge, up to $60 billion, but in the Philippines, the industry is still weak,” Galvez Tan said.
The Philippines has a rich natural resources, and has been documented to cultivate 1,500 medicinal plants in the country, making it a repository of proven and potential medicinal plants and herbs.
But compared to other countries, Galvez Tan said the Philippines has yet to fully exploit its natural resources of medicinal plants for business, commercial and scientific purposes.
He said that out of 1,500 medicinal plants found in the country, around 240 have been studied, and 10 underwent full-scale studies. To this day, the number of medicinal plants approved by the DOH remained at ten.
“That a was very long time ago, and we still have 10. It was in 1993 when we launched the “10 Halamang Gamot,” said Galvez Tan, who was then a Health undersecretary. He became secretary in 1995.
The 10 herbal medicines endorsed by DOH through its “Traditional Health Program” are Lagundi (Vitex negundo), anti-cough and anti-asthma; Sambong (Blumea balsamifera), excretion of kidney stones; Ampalaya (Momordica charantia), anti-diabetic; Akalpuko (Cassia alata), anti-fungi; Yerba Buena (Clinopodium douglasii), analgesis; Garlic (Allium sativum), anti-cholesterol; Tiyaang Gubat (Ehretia microphulla Lam.), anti-diarrhea; Bayabas (Psidium guajava), antiseptic; Niyog-niyogan (Quisqualis indica L.), intestinal parasites and Ulasimang Bato|Pansit-Pansitan (Peperomia pellucid), anti-gout.
Galvez Tan said he has listed 10 more plants which can be added to the current number of medicinal plants approved by the DOH, namely banaba, balbas pusa, saluyot, malunggay, coconut oil, siling labuyo leaves, camote leaves, colitis or uray and luyang dilaw.
“We could do a lot more. I’m waiting for the day when the government, a high official, will carry the banner for medicinal plants. We want wealth creation. We want the Philippines to move out of poverty. We have one of the highest poverty rate. We should no longer look for other exotic poverty alleviation.”
Key players
Still, Galvez Tan said he never loses hope that the herbal medicine industry will get the attention of President Simeon Benigno Aquino III, Health Secretary Enrique Ona, Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo, and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.
“These are the key players. Health can also do so much but you need the Agriculture (department), and even the Department of Trade and Industry.”
The agriculture department, Galvez Tan said, can support the use of herbal medicines, by asking tobacco farmers to switch to planting medicinal plants instead of tobacco, which is harmful to health.
He stresses, though, that government officials must exercise political will if it wants to fully develop the herbal medicine industry.
Galvez Tan commended former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap for endorsing malunggay as both nutritious and medicinal, but he still lamented that the government has not created a “body” to support and promote its use.
He acknowledged that Filipino and multinational pharmaceutical firms engaged in manufacturing and promoting herbal medicines.
Galvez Tan, who has a masteral degree in public health with Letter of Excellence at the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium in 1984, said multinationals are now venturing into the use of natural medicine.
Amid all these developments, Galvez Tan, who also teaches at the UP College of Medicine, said the industry is confronted with the lack of supply of raw materials.
Lagundi didn’t have a hard time gaining acceptability commercially because there were thousands of hectares planted to lagundi.
Ampalaya, a popular vegetable used for Filipino dishes, is not available commercially as a raw material for medicine because the country uses it for food, according to Galvez Tan. Ampalaya is being sourced from China, India and Vietnam, rather than from the Philippines. (End)
The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of the world population uses herbal medicines for some aspect of health care.
“So there is massive public acceptance,” Galvez Tan said. “In the Philippines alone, Lagundi is working. The market is thriving. Lagundi even surpassed the No. 1 cough syrup; the same thing with ampalaya. Lagundi has reached sales of P800 million, now nearing P1 billion; ampalaya, P600 If million; and sambong, P300 million.:
“It won’t reach the present time if it (herbal medicine) was not effective,” said Galvez Tan, who had an enviable record of having been involved in community work in far-flung doctorless rural, areas as well as in national and international health planning and programming. He is also an advocate of clinical practices that combine Western medicine and Asian and Filipino traditional medicine.
“If indeed the herbal business is booming, how come there are only ten firms approved by the Health department for use.? asked Galvez Tan.
More acceptable
Galvez Tan said that the herbal medicine industry would be more acceptable if government would enable the creation of law, a governing body like an institute, a board or authority to address all concerns on medicinal plants. “This will amount to a big leap for the industry which pales in comparison to the P100 billion pharmaceutical industry in the country,” he said.
“I wish that government would utilize our medicinal plants for commercial purposes and make money out of it. There should also be for instance, the National Lagundi Board or the Institute for Sambong or Institute for Ampalaya,” said Galvez Tan, author of eight books, including Fruits and Vegetables with Medicinal Properties published in 1983 and Medicinal Fruits & Vegetables published in 1983 and 2008, respectively.
He said the government should give additional funding to the Department of Science and Technology for research on medicinal plants, while noting that it takes P20 million to do research work on a particular medicinal plant.
He said that the government pays little attention to the billion-peso herbal medicine industry. He lamented that all the other DOH secretaries who came after him and even former Senator Juan Flavier did not even bother to add to the existing number of the herbal medicines approved by the department.
“When you look at the global market, the industry is really huge, up to $60 billion, but in the Philippines, the industry is still weak,” Galvez Tan said.
The Philippines has a rich natural resources, and has been documented to cultivate 1,500 medicinal plants in the country, making it a repository of proven and potential medicinal plants and herbs.
But compared to other countries, Galvez Tan said the Philippines has yet to fully exploit its natural resources of medicinal plants for business, commercial and scientific purposes.
He said that out of 1,500 medicinal plants found in the country, around 240 have been studied, and 10 underwent full-scale studies. To this day, the number of medicinal plants approved by the DOH remained at ten.
“That a was very long time ago, and we still have 10. It was in 1993 when we launched the “10 Halamang Gamot,” said Galvez Tan, who was then a Health undersecretary. He became secretary in 1995.
The 10 herbal medicines endorsed by DOH through its “Traditional Health Program” are Lagundi (Vitex negundo), anti-cough and anti-asthma; Sambong (Blumea balsamifera), excretion of kidney stones; Ampalaya (Momordica charantia), anti-diabetic; Akalpuko (Cassia alata), anti-fungi; Yerba Buena (Clinopodium douglasii), analgesis; Garlic (Allium sativum), anti-cholesterol; Tiyaang Gubat (Ehretia microphulla Lam.), anti-diarrhea; Bayabas (Psidium guajava), antiseptic; Niyog-niyogan (Quisqualis indica L.), intestinal parasites and Ulasimang Bato|Pansit-Pansitan (Peperomia pellucid), anti-gout.
Galvez Tan said he has listed 10 more plants which can be added to the current number of medicinal plants approved by the DOH, namely banaba, balbas pusa, saluyot, malunggay, coconut oil, siling labuyo leaves, camote leaves, colitis or uray and luyang dilaw.
“We could do a lot more. I’m waiting for the day when the government, a high official, will carry the banner for medicinal plants. We want wealth creation. We want the Philippines to move out of poverty. We have one of the highest poverty rate. We should no longer look for other exotic poverty alleviation.”
Key players
Still, Galvez Tan said he never loses hope that the herbal medicine industry will get the attention of President Simeon Benigno Aquino III, Health Secretary Enrique Ona, Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo, and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.
“These are the key players. Health can also do so much but you need the Agriculture (department), and even the Department of Trade and Industry.”
The agriculture department, Galvez Tan said, can support the use of herbal medicines, by asking tobacco farmers to switch to planting medicinal plants instead of tobacco, which is harmful to health.
He stresses, though, that government officials must exercise political will if it wants to fully develop the herbal medicine industry.
Galvez Tan commended former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap for endorsing malunggay as both nutritious and medicinal, but he still lamented that the government has not created a “body” to support and promote its use.
He acknowledged that Filipino and multinational pharmaceutical firms engaged in manufacturing and promoting herbal medicines.
Galvez Tan, who has a masteral degree in public health with Letter of Excellence at the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium in 1984, said multinationals are now venturing into the use of natural medicine.
Amid all these developments, Galvez Tan, who also teaches at the UP College of Medicine, said the industry is confronted with the lack of supply of raw materials.
Lagundi didn’t have a hard time gaining acceptability commercially because there were thousands of hectares planted to lagundi.
Ampalaya, a popular vegetable used for Filipino dishes, is not available commercially as a raw material for medicine because the country uses it for food, according to Galvez Tan. Ampalaya is being sourced from China, India and Vietnam, rather than from the Philippines. (End)
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