Herb-Drug Combinations: A New Complementary Therapeutic Strategy

Plant extracts or their pure natural constituents have been used traditionally for thousands of years for treating diseases with considerable success in India and other Asian countries. In addition, they have also been used as complements or supplements with conventional medicine. This book discusses the latest research in the application of combination therapy, namely herbs and drugs, in the treatment of a range of communicable and non-communicable diseases to achieve a synergistic effect. This synergy may help in reducing the amount of drug, its toxicity, side effects, and development of resistance as well as improve its efficacy.  The book also discusses the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic parameters, experimental tools to determine the impact of combination, computational approaches to identify synergy, statistical analysis of data, and clinical and regulatory issues. The book is useful for researchers in the fields of pharmacology, pharmacy and medicinal chemistry and those working in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. This book could open up new strategies to focus on multiple targets to combat complex diseases unlike the single targeted drugs that are being currently marketed by the pharmaceuticals industries.

Prof. Mukesh Doble is a Distinguished Professor, Saveetha Dental College & Hospitals and Professor (retd) Department of Biotechnology at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India. His areas of interest are biomaterials, drug design, and bioreactors. He holds B.Tech/M. Tech degrees in Chemical Engineering from IIT, Madras, a Ph. D. from Aston University, UK and postdoctoral from University of Cambridge, U.K., and Texas A&M, U.S.A. He has published 350 technical papers, 10 books, and filed 20 patents. He is a Director of two start-up companies in biotechnology. He is a fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, London, a recipient of Herdillia Award for “Excellence in Basic Research” from Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers and 5th National Award for Technology Innovation in Field of Petrochemicals and Downstream Plastic Processing Industry, GoIndia for “Antimicrobial Food Wrap”. He is one amongst the World’s Top 2% Scientists (list published by Stanford University, USA, 2021). 

Dr. Shanmugam Hemaiswarya is a Project Officer at the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. She did her PhD from the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras. Her research interests include phytomedicine and studying combinations of phytochemicals within extracts or with synthetic drugs. She did her postdoctoral at University of Algarve, Portugal and a three-year research fellowship (Women Scientist Scheme A, DST) at Anna University, Chennai. She has 23 research publications to her credit. 

Dr. Pranav Kumar Prabhakar is working as Professor in Lovely Professional University Punjab, India. He completed his master in biochemistry from Patna University Bihar and his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. His research interests include synergy, phytomedicine, metabolic disorders. He is serving as an editorial member of several reputed journals. He has authored 60+ research articles, two edited books and 11 book chapters. He is member of Royal Society of Chemistry, Indian Science Congress Association, and Asia-Pacific Chemical, Biological& Environmental Engineering Society.