Use of Plants in the Drug Industry with a Focus on Emerging Techniques and Trends

Plants have long been used as a source of nutrition and medicine for humankind. Under abiotic and biotic stress conditions, they produce various important secondary metabolites (PSMs) including alkaloids, phenols, steroids, flavonoids, and terpenoids. These secondary metabolites are used as phytodrugs because of their extraordinary therapeutic potential against lethal diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and infectious diseases. According to a report, the global herbal market was valued at USD 151.19 billion in 2021 and its size is predicted to reach USD 411 billion by 2026. Considering the high demand for medicinal compounds, it is inevitable to undermine the importance of technology in bringing innovation and effectiveness to the table. So, in this chapter, we first briefly explained the process of drug discovery from plant sources and highlighted the importance of chromatographic and spectrophotometric methods. After that, we discussed how various advanced technologies like high throughput screening, robotics, omics, Computer Aided Drug Design (CADD), and artificial intelligence are capable of changing the face of drug development by bringing automation, authentication, and rapidness to the whole process.