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. Phytopharmaceuticals are the basis of rational phytotherapy.
It makes sense to subdivide the ingredients according to the following criteria:

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

1. Schilcher H (2016) Guide to Phytotherapy. Urban & Fischer Munich p.9