Medicinal Plants Projects

Pharmaceutical industry from medicinal plants is a growing prominent economic branch, the world market of medicinal plants reaching 60 million US$ in 1998 with an average annual growth of 7%.

The composition of about 40% of modern medications is from botanic origin. The development of a medication from medicinal plants is a long and costly process reaching about 200 million US$ from the conception of the idea until obtainment of the final product.

According to international estimates there are 250,000 species of plants from which 90% have been classified. Medicinal plants consist of about 3-5% of all plants and only about 5,000 species have been studied until now. From 2,600 Palestinian plants species about 600 (22%) are medicinal plants. This indicates the great potential in the development of indigenous medicinal plants in the modern pharmaceutical industry.

The Galilee Society is keen to preserve medicinal plants and to revitalize and apply the existing written and oral Arab heritage of the use of medicinal plants. Scientific research is carried out at the Galilee Society Regional R&D Center in order to explore and develop new uses of medicinal plants in modern medicine.