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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.

Sec. Ethnopharmacology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1662980

This article is part of the Research TopicNutraceuticals and Medicinal Plants for Preventive Health Care: Integrative Approaches from Ethnopharmacology to Regulatory Science and Applications in Human Health and DiseaseView all 11 articles

The Herbal Pharmacopoeia of Ecuador: A National Model for Integrating Traditional Knowledge and Biodiscovery

Provisionally accepted
SUSANA LLIVISACA-CONTRERASSUSANA LLIVISACA-CONTRERAS1Jaime Naranjo-MoránJaime Naranjo-Morán2Martín Bastidas-GálvezMartín Bastidas-Gálvez3Jairo Jaime-CarvajalJairo Jaime-Carvajal4Patricia Isabel Manzano SantanaPatricia Isabel Manzano Santana1Adrián Abad-MihalacheAdrián Abad-Mihalache5,6Andrea Abril-NovilloAndrea Abril-Novillo7Juan Manuel Cevallos-CevallosJuan Manuel Cevallos-Cevallos1Andrea Orellana-ManzanoAndrea Orellana-Manzano8*Fabián León-TamarizFabián León-Tamariz7*
  • 1Centro de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas del Ecuador, CIBE, Faculty of Life Sciences, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Ecuador, ESPOL, Campus Gustavo Galindo, 09015863, Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • 2Grupo de Investigación en Aplicaciones Biotecnológicas, GIAB, Carrera de Biotecnología, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, UPS, 090901, Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • 3Universidad Tecnológica ECOTEC, campus Samborondón, 092302, Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • 4Grupo de Investigación en Aplicaciones Biotecnológicas, GIAB, Carrera de Biotecnología, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, UPS, Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • 5Finca Botánica Aromática, 090151, Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • 6D.Gary Young Research Institute, Lehi, UT, United States
  • 7Department of Biosciences, Group of Medicinal Plants and Natural Products, Faculty of Chemistry, Universidad de Cuenca, Av. 12 de Abril, 010107, Cuenca, Ecuador
  • 8Laboratory for Biomedical Research, Faculty of Life Sciences, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, Campus Gustavo Galindo, Guayaquil, Ecuador

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Introduction: The Herbal Pharmacopoeia of Ecuador is a proposal aimed at systematizing and organizing information on the use of medicinal plants and natural products through the scientific evaluation of existing knowledge (ancestral or otherwise) in Ecuador, a country with high biodiversity and a rich ethnobotanical heritage, . This project seeks to contributinge to the safe use of medicinal plants and their potential phytopharmaceutical derivatives, offering safe alternatives for the treatment or relief of various health conditions. Objectives: To build a foundation that organizes and structures validated information on medicinal plants and natural products, serving in the future as a reference resource for the development of phytotherapeutic products, knowledge transfer, protection of ancestral knowledge, supported by regulatory bodies, and as a source of consultation for health professionals in Ecuador. Methodology:

Keywords: Medicinal plants1, Platform2 Digital Ethnopharmacology2, Biodiversity3, Phytotherapeutics4, Scientific development5, Public health6, Complementary medicine7

Received: 09 Jul 2025; Accepted: 09 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 LLIVISACA-CONTRERAS, Naranjo-Morán, Bastidas-Gálvez, Jaime-Carvajal, Manzano Santana, Abad-Mihalache, Abril-Novillo, Cevallos-Cevallos, Orellana-Manzano and León-Tamariz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Andrea Orellana-Manzano, akorella@espol.edu.ec
Fabián León-Tamariz, fabian.leont@ucuenca.edu.ec

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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