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Organisation

School of Pharmacy

Department

Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy

University

University of London


Address
29 - 39 Brunswick Sq. London
Country UKPost Code WC1N 1AX
Head of the orgnisation
Prof Michael Heinrich (Head of Centre)
Telephone 0044-20-7753-5844
Fax 0044-20-7753-5909
Email Address michael.heinrich@pharmacy.ac.uk
Website http://www.pharmacy.ac.uk/

Description of the Organisation

The Centre of Pharmacognosy covers all aspects of medicinal plant research with a strong multidisciplinary team unified by an interest in securing a supply of safe and efficacious medicines derived from plants. It offers many opportunities for collaboratie research:

  • Chemical analyses of natural products, plant extracts and herbal medical products (HMPs).
  • Pharmacological/toxicological activity of natural products, plant extracts and HMPs and herb drug interactions.
  • Development of new antimicrobial, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory and anticancer lead compounds from plants and marine organisms.
  • Development of new health foods, cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals.
  • Support for Traditional Herbeal Medical Product registration under the new European regulations.
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Picture of the authorised head of the organisation 
Team Members:

Prof. Michael Heinrich
Prof. Simon Gibbons
Dr. José Prieto
Dr. Deniz Tasdemir

Details of the project of work in relation to Chinese Medicine

Herbal medical products (HMPs) commonly used as over the counter (OTC) products are widely used. Interactions between HMPs and other medicines may cause specific, phytopharmaceutical problems but overall, the data on the safety of these products is still limited. Consequently, there is a need to evaluate the interaction potential of HMPs and, this includes, for example, TCM.

Safety and quality are linked intrinsically and detailed phytochemical-analytical studies are also required in order to guarantee a reproducible, high quality of all herbal medical products used. Metabolomic studies using NMR have been used successfully in order to assess the variability of such products. Overall, herbal medicines are coming under much more rigorous regulation and this offers novel opportunities to community pharmacists, but also requires research on analytical and safety aspects of such products.

In addition, we have an interest in the phytochemical investigation of seleced medicinal plants used in TCM.

Projected area of participation within the CUC

Safety and quality control of Herbal Medical products from TCM

Remarks