Innovative development path of ethnomedicines: the interpretation of the path

Abstract

One of the primary purposes of the innovative development of ethnomedicines is to use their excellent safety and significant efficacy to serve a broader population. To achieve this purpose, modern scientific and technological means should be referenced, and relevant national laws and regulations as well as technical guides should be strictly followed to develop standards and to perform systemic research in producing ethnomedicines. Finally, ethnomedicines, which are applied to a limited extent in ethnic areas, can be transformed into safe, effective, and quality-controllable medical products to relieve the pain of more patients. The innovative development path of ethnomedicines includes the following three primary stages: resource study, standardized development research, and industrialization of the achievements and efforts for internationalization. The implementation of this path is always guaranteed by the research and development platform and the talent team. This article is based on the accumulation of long-term practice and is combined with the relevant disciplines, laws and regulations, and technical guidance from the research and development of ethnomedicines. The intention is to perform an in-depth analysis and explanation of the major research thinking, methods, contents, and technical paths involved in all stages of the innovative development path of ethnomedicines to provide useful references for the development of proper ethnomedicine use.

Keywords

ethnomedicines / innovative development path / resource study / standardized development research / industrialization / internationalization

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department for continuously supporting ethnomedicine studies.

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Zhaoyun Zhu, Dehuan Fu, Yali Gui, Tao Cui, Jingkun Wang, Ting Wang, Zhizhong Yang, Yanfei Niu, Zhennan She, and Li Wang declare no conflicts of interest. This manuscript is a review article and does not involve a research protocol that requires approval of a relevant institutional review board or ethics committee.

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2016 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg