Analysis of technical standards for plant extracts

Analysis of technical standards for plant extracts
At present, the vast majority of plant extracts do not have national or industry standards, and enterprises often rely on quality clauses in contracts as the basis for product delivery. The testing methods for product quality are relatively chaotic, which poses obstacles to production and operation, and challenges to the development of the industry. A few enterprises in the industry have initially established a technical standard system for enterprises, including "two standards and three procedures": quality standards for medicinal materials and extracts, cultivation procedures for medicinal materials, production process procedures for extracts, and inspection and operation procedures. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation has approved the research project "Quality Standards for the Import and Export of Single Flavored Plant Extracts", which is expected to propose a set of standards for the industry.
Discussion on Methodology of Modern Plant Medicine
The traditional method has obvious disadvantages due to its rough process:
(1) It is difficult to make high concentration preparations. If high concentration tablets are forcibly made, they are prone to moisture absorption and mold formation. On the contrary, they may be taken in excessive quantities and inconvenient. If the dosage is low, the effect is not significant due to the low dosage
(2) The study of chemical components is shallow, difficult to deepen scientific research, and difficult to integrate with modern pharmaceutical science.
(3) Quantitative indicators are difficult to achieve and are easily impacted by "parallel goods".
(4) Heavy metals easily exceed foreign indicators and are difficult to reach the world.
Chemical purification, as a method of scientific research, is of great significance to the understanding of fine and micro science. However, as a commercial development method and research method, its weaknesses include:
(1) People's understanding of the effective ingredients of plants is a deepening process, not a one-step approach. The history of phytochemistry has shown that it is often the case that when we think we have discovered an effective component of a plant, but in fact it is only one of the effective components, which may be relatively easy to purify and discover, and may not necessarily be a more essential phytochemical component. Therefore, we should not be hasty.
(2) The more essential phytochemicals are often complex structures that are difficult to purify and quantify.
(3) The interior of the plant itself is a miniature compound formulation. Its efficacy often comes not only from certain or certain chemical components, but also from several types of chemical components, with primary and secondary effects. We suspect that there is probably a relationship between monarch, subject, assistant, and envoy within them, as is the case with traditional Chinese medicine compound preparations. There are many examples where the effect of purified chemical monomers is poor. For example, ginkgo biloba extract has good effects on heart, brain, and blood vessels. After extracting ginkgolide from ginkgo biloba extract, it loses its cerebrovascular effects and reduces cardiovascular effects, which proves that lactone is more important. However, the clinical validation results of pure lactone injection are very unsatisfactory, far inferior to the mixed injection. Those who have experience in preparing intravenous injections of Chinese herbal medicine know that injections made from purified plant ingredients, although their quantifiable indicators are significantly higher, are far less effective than injections of mixtures.
(4) Purification greatly increases industrial costs and wastes other available resources.