Phytopharmaceuticals

A phytopharmaceutical generally consists of a complex mixture of several plant constituents. Under pharmaceutical law (according to § 10 AMG), the totality of the ingredients is the active ingredient of a phytopharmaceutical. By definition, phytopharmaceuticals contain exclusively herbal preparations as active ingredients. Phytopharmaceuticals are the basis of rational phytotherapy.
It makes sense to subdivide the ingredients according to the following criteria:

• Main active ingredient (=effector), which is clearly responsible for the clinical efficacy alone (e.g. atropine in belladonna)
• Active substances and secondary active substances with only efficacy-determining character (e.g. chamazulene in chamomile flowers)
• Accompanying substances (= co-effectors) that are not directly involved in the effect, but can positively or negatively influence the pharmacokinetics of the active ingredients (e.g. saponins in digitalis leaves)
• Scaffold substances for the structure of the plant cell, which are derived from substances of the primary metabolism e.g. (cellulose)
• Leading substances: substances that are important for phytochemical quality testing are defined as leading substances (regardless of whether they are involved in efficacy)

Isolated plant substances such as digitoxin, quinine or morphine do not count as phytopharmaceuticals, nor do preparations from homeopathy or anthroposophic medicine!

1. Schilcher H (2016) Guide to phytotherapy. Urban & Fischer Munich p.9
2. Blaschek W (2015) Wichtl-Teedrogens and phytopharmaceuticals. A handbook for practice. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft Munich. S 3-5