Prospects for development of medicinal plants is very bright futurein terms of various supporting factors, including the following:availability of natural resources of Indonesia's second-largest biodiversity in the world, the history of traditional medicine that has been long known and used by our ancestors from generation to generation so that it becomes nation's cultural heritage, a global issue "back to nature" thus increasing the herbal product market, including Indonesia, the monetary crisis caused major traditional treatment of choice for most people and government policy in the form of various laws that show a serious concern for the development of medicinal plants.
Development of medicinal plants have a very broad sense, not only as a source of raw materials of herbal medicine (agromedisin), but more than that medicinal plants can be used as agrotourism, laboratory botany (botanical garden), a source germplasm, lane green area, non-oil export commodities , and as a source of public revenue. Seeing so much potential possessed by medicinal plants, this is an opportunity for each region to make medicinal plants as a priority sector in the development of economic, social and cultural.
The use of traditional medicine has long been practiced all over the world, both in developing countries or in countries that have been advanced. Medical history has shown that some traditional medicines proved the forerunner of modern medicine. An example is quinine and reserpin who long ago had been used as traditional medicine for certain illnesses, but dosage was not determined. Then by way of purification can be found the substance is effective so that the quantities and properties can be measured. The evidence suggests that traditional health efforts have been recognized from the first and carried out long before the formal health services with modern medicines. Until now, people still recognize and utilize these services with traditional medicine. Therefore, in order to increase and equitable health services to the community, the efforts of traditional health with traditional medicine should be best utilized, nurtured and developed.
Indonesia has approximately 30,000 species of plants and 940 species of which include nutritious plants (180 species have been used by traditional herbal medicine industry) is the market potential of herbal medicine and fitofarmaka.
The use of natural materials as raw materials in Indonesia has been done by our ancestors centuries ago proved the existence of a long manuscript on palm leaves that describes people who were dispensing medicine (herbal medicine) with the plant as raw material. Herbal medicine has been widely accepted in developing countriesand developed countries. According to WHO (World Health Organization) to 65% of the population of developed countries and 80% of the population of developing countries have been using herbal medicine. Factors driving the use of herbal medicines in developed countries life expectancy is longer when the prevalence of chronic disease increases, the failure to use modern medicine for certain diseases including cancer and increasingly widespread access to information about herbal medicine worldwide.
WHO recommends the use of traditional medicine including herbal medicine in community health maintenance, prevention and treatment of disease, particularly for chronic, degenerative diseases and cancer. This shows support for WHO to back to nature which in the case of the more profitable. To increase the level of selective treatment and reduce the influence of season and place of origin of plant to effect, and further facilitate the standardization of the ingredients in the active substance is extracted and then made preparations fitofarmaka or even purified to obtain pure substances. As the increased production of traditional medicines and a wide variety of natural ingredients and preparations to facilitate supervision and licensing, the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency to group in the preparation of herbal medicine, herbal preparations and preparations fitofarmaka standardized. Terms of the three different preparations for medicinal use empirically based on experience, standardized herbal preparations should be standardized and raw materials have been tested in experimental pharmacology, while the same dosage fitofarmaka modern medicine raw materials should be standardized and must go through clinical trials.
By looking at the number of Indonesia's abundant plant and 180 new plants used as traditional medicine by the industry, the opportunity for the pharmacy profession to enhance the role of herbal supplies in health development is still wide open. Standardization of raw materials and finished drugs, evidence of pharmacological effects and the information security level of herbal medicines is a challenge for pharmacists for herbal medicine can be more accepted by society at large.