Page 140 - SAMRC AnnualReport 2025-26

Herbal Drugs
Research Unit

UNIT DIRECTOR:
Prof. Alvaro Viljoen
ViljoenAM@tut.ac.za

Overview of the Research Unit Overall, the Unit remains highly relevant in
addressing the challenge of responsibly harnessing
The SAMRC Herbal Drugs Research Unit is
dedicated to advancing South Africa’s indigenous South Africa’s rich biological resources to develop
botanical resources through modern scientific high-quality herbal medicines supported by sound
research and innovation. Its primary vision is to scientific evidence, while contributing to innovation,
unlock the socio-economic potential of South public health protection, and socio-economic
Africa’s rich biodiversity by transforming medicinal development.
plants into safe, effective, and commercially viable
products that benefit public health and contribute Key Milestones and Achievements
to sustainable economic growth. Through the The Unit’s primary research objectives included:
application of advanced technologies, the Unit
supports the development and strengthening of › conducting phytochemical profiling of medicinal
the herbal medicines sector in South Africa. plants to identify bioactive compounds linked to
therapeutic activity;
A central focus of the Unit is promoting quality, › validating traditional medicinal claims using
safety, and efficacy (QSE) in herbal medicines. modern pharmacological assays;
Through rigorous scientific investigation of both
new and established herbal products, the Unit › developing quality-control protocols for herbal
generates evidence-based information that raw materials to improve product consistency and
supports consumer safety, informs regulatory reliability; and
decision-making, and contributes to the growth and › evaluating toxicity profiles and pharmacokinetics
credibility of the herbal medicines industry. Its work to ensure public safety.
spans phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology,
pharmacokinetics, and quality assurance, ensuring Several important research projects were completed
that herbal medicines are evaluated according to in support of these objectives. Toxicity studies on
internationally accepted scientific standards. Eucomis autumnalis and Merwilla plumbea using
in vivo zebrafish embryotoxicity models addressed
The Unit also plays a vital part in capacity safety concerns regarding widely used traditional
development, research output, and postgraduate medicines. Safety evaluation remained a key priority
training. By integrating with pharmacy and through in vitro cytotoxic, genotoxic, and multi-
pharmaceutical sciences programmes, it supports parameter hepatotoxicity testing of selected South
higher education and skills enhancement by creating African medicinal plant extracts, helping to identify
pathways from undergraduate studies to master’s potential adverse effects before wider public use.
and doctoral research. Students and emerging
researchers receive multidisciplinary training Research investigating the neuroprotective and
that prepares them with technical and scientific neurorestorative effects of Mesembryanthemum
expertise applicable to academia, regulation, and tortuosum in a Parkinson’s disease zebrafish
the pharmaceutical industry. larvae model addressed the growing burden of

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