Ayurveda-Inspired Reverse Pharmacology in Drug Discovery

Ayurveda is an ancient Indian system of medicine that has been used for thousands of years. In recent years, there has been growing interest in using Ayurvedic principles and natural products to discover new drugs. Reverse pharmacology, an approach that involves using traditional knowledge to guide drug discovery, has been gaining attention in this field. In this chapter, an overview of Ayurvedic principles and the concept of reverse pharmacology in drug discovery is provided. Some of the drugs developed through this approach are discussed here as case studies. While there are challenges and limitations to this approach, deriving novel therapeutic applications from the existing formulation and developing safer drugs from natural sources represent crucial benefits.