CENTER FOR HERBAL MEDICINE INVITED PAKISTANI EXPERT IN AN INTERNATIONAL GUEST LECTURE

Center for Herbal Medicine Invited Pakistani Expert

in an International Guest Lecture

For the closing year event, The Center for Herbal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia was friendly invited Pakistani Expert to give speech on the topic of “Importance and Recent Development of Nanotechnology-based Drug Delivery Systems in Herbal Medicines”. This event was held on 28 December 2023, online. More than 50 multinational participants were involved in this guest lecture.

As the speaker,  Dr. Mulazim Hussain Asim from the College of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Pakistan, highlight the role of nanoparticle based Novel Drug Delivery System (NDDS). He said, it can be used to target the herbal medicines to individual organ which improves the selectivity, solubility, drug delivery, safety, effectiveness and reduces the frequent dose. Its tiny size enhances the entire surface area of the active compound therefore allocating quicker dissolution in the blood. This technology is not only applicable to be used for conventional medicine but also is promising to develop the formula of herbal medicine, especially for the active compounds gained from Bioassay guided isolation. “Moreover, as per the World Health Organization (WHO) mentioned, in developing countries, around 80% of the world populations at present utilize herbal medicine for primary health care”, he added.

Stated in his lecture, several drugs that also possess natural therapeutic agents in their composition are already available commercially. Such as Artemotil derived from Artemisia annua, a traditional Chinese medicine plant been used for malaria treatment; Paclitaxel and its analogs derived from the Taxus brevifolia plant, as well as Vinblastine and Vincristine extracted from Catharanthus roseus have been proposed in many studies to treat cancer; also, Silymarin from Silybum marianum has been recognize to treat the liver disease in some common therapy. Many natural products have great therapeutic value, but due to their poor solubility and bioavailability, their use was severely limited. Therefore, developing herbal with nanotechnology-based Drug Delivery Systems is very promising strategy to fill the gap of those problems.

However, several concerns regarding with this technology also need to be addressed. Dr. Asim mentioned, “even though it could bring a significant benefit, some clinical researchers have mentioned some negative factors, such as the difficulty of scaling up the processes, high cost, and the easiness of inhalability the nanoparticles may induce lung disease and changes in homeostasis. Moreover, major issues about nanoparticle delivery systems of natural compounds can be related to their potential toxicity. This is a major concern with nanoparticles, partly because they can cross biological membranes, such as cellular membranes and, in some special cases, the BBB (Blood Brain Barrier)”. To overcome this situation, specific preclinical investigations need to be done in order to allow researchers to determine the scientific basis upon which more targeted human studies can be designed.

As your information, Dr. Mulazim Hussain Asim is a Senior Lecturer in the College of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Pakistan with long experience in studying Drug Delivery System. He gained his PhD in the Pharmaceutical Technology from the University of Innsbruck, Austria under supervision of Prof. Andreas Bernkop-Schnürch, one of the leading group in nanotechnology team research in Austria. Dr. Asim has published more than 40 international publications, with H-index 18, IF > 300 and 3 book chapters.  We thank him for the time and insightful knowledge for this event. This event is in line with Sustainable Development Goals, especially goal 3 regarding with health and goal 17 about partnerships for the goals.