Ethnopharmacology, generations experience for the future of pharmacy and medicine

Treatment and medicine have a long history in the human story from the beginning. Humans have always tried to find ways to heal their pains and illnesses throughout history. This vital human attempt has created a vast medical knowledge and heritage worldwide based on generation-by-generation human experience rooted in hundreds and thousands of years. These great human knowledge databases, made through human try and error, are mainly kept by the indigenous people or ethnic groups in local and traditional societies. This knowledge has been created not only through medical experience but also under the influence of the history, culture, geography, and religion of the local people who own it. In recent decades, attention to this knowledge has been increasing, and for the first time, the term "Ethnopharmacology" was created in 1967.1 Although this terminology is relatively young, scientific work on this knowledge dates back to the 17th century.2,3 Currently, ethnopharmacology is accepted as a branch of pharmacy in the scientific community, and its research methodology is being developed. Many scientific societies work on ethnopharmacology, such as the International Society for Ethnopharmacology (founded in 1990), the Italo-Latin American Society of Ethnomedicine (SILAE), and the International Society of Ethnobiology (ISE). There are also specific peer-reviewed journals on ethnopharmacology. Some of the indexed ones in Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and Medline are the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, Journal of Ethnobiology, and Journal of Intercultural Ethnopharmacology. Due to the scientific movement in ethnopharmacology research in recent decades, the research methodologies of this type of investigation have been formed and developed. There are many developed methodologies to interview local healers, such as collecting natural samples and creating identified herbarium collections. Additionally, through statistical analysis, the qualitative collected data are transformed into quantitative statistical data. This helps to evaluate the gathered data based on standard analysis. Some of these statistical parameters are frequency of citation of use, relative frequency of citation, use value, and family use value. By using these statistical analyses, one can identify the best choices of local remedies or treatment methods that have a high priority compared to other options within the target community.1 In ethnopharmacological research, the current literature is also reviewed to find any current evidence about local remedies and treatments. We are looking for new hypotheses based on this local knowledge in ethnopharmacology research. If the local medical claim is fully accepted by the current literature and used in current medicine, it confirms the efficacy of that local treatment, but there is no hypothesis. For remedies that have evidence against their use (due to safety issues or negative results), these items are discarded. Also, some remedies may not have enough current evidence to make a decision about their probable efficacy and require further investigations. However, the best situation occurs when these remedies and treatment methods are supported by current evidence for their possible mechanisms of action, but there is no direct research on their medical claim. In these cases, a hypothesis can be made for further investigations to evaluate their safety and efficacy. The database of these cases is a very important source of hypotheses based on the experiences of past generations, supported by current pharmacology for natural drug discovery. It shows the importance of ethnopharmacological studies for the present and future of pharmacy. There are too many concerns in current pharmacy and pharmacology including drug resistance, side effects of medicines, cost of treatment, etc., lead to welcoming mew drug discovery. Thnopharmacology is one of the sources of drug discovery based on the human generation by generation experience and made by the nature. By scientific approach to this human heritage, discovery of new natural remedies with minimum costs would be achievable. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.