QUALITY ASSURANCE
Tips to increase the quality of natural products
Natural medicinal products and their contents are constantly under consumer scrutiny. It’s critical for the manufacturer or formulator to produce a high quality, standardised product to satisfy the market needs. Analike Blom van Staden discusses various ways academic researchers and the industry can work together to benefit the supply chain and ensure quality finished products.
A
miscommunication seems to
While experiments are repeated in the
exist between scientists and
laboratory to determine reproducibility,
when research is conducted on
the industry, which creates
they are often only conducted on the
plants, including:
challenges when it comes to
original extract prepared from one plant
• samples should be collected during all
the quality control of natural products. Academic scientists primarily focus on
sample collected in the same season from the same plant. The influence
There are other aspects to note
four seasons • different locations should be used
investigating the bioactivity of medicinal
of season, geography, agriculture
for sample collection, which might
plants for their potential therapeutic
processing and the growth conditions
ultimately become suppliers of the plant
use in cosmetics, cosmeceuticals
of the plant are often overlooked; these
or pharmaceuticals. Yet proper
are critical when it comes to commercial
standardisation techniques and the
farming and extract manufacturing.
potential therapeutic applications
Various critical aspects need to
material to the industry • for the initial bioactivity screening, samples should be collected from different plant parts.
need to be considered throughout the
be incorporated into academic
These aspects will ensure the
investigation process.
research projects, focusing on
identification of the optimal season and
product development.
collection point on which more in-depth
The academic workflow includes
research can be based. This helps save
the drug discovery and development phase (pharmacodynamics), the
Plant material
time for the natural product industry and
safety assessment and potential
It is standard procedure at any research
results in better quality control and a
contraindications and drug interactions
institution to deposit a herbarium
standardised product.
(pharmacokinetics) as well as the clinical
specimen of the plant on which research
investigation. Although it appears the
will be conducted, documenting the
Choosing a solvent
invention is ready to be commercialised
person who collected the specimen,
Extracts are prepared in small amounts
or licensed out at this stage, a lot of
the date and time of collection and
within a laboratory, which can be
additional research is still required by the
the location, which can include GPS
problematic when it comes to scaling
industry before it can reach the market.
coordinates. Also useful to the industry,
up extract manufacturing to a
but not always recorded, is the size or age
commercial level. The toxicity of the
of the plant from which was collected.
solvents used for extraction is one aspect
This data is important as the active
not being considered.
compound(s), with the specific biological
ethyl acetate, acetone, hexane and
different stages of the plant’s growth.
primarily methanol – as methanol is quite
Another important aspect is the
It’s crucial that standardisation of a natural product is included at the early stages of product development
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| OCTOBER 2019 | P C Review
Scientists often use chloroform,
activity for the product or drug, differs in
versatile for the extraction of several
condition or health of the plant, as stress
phytochemicals. Yet there are strict
might have influenced its bioactivity, which
regulations around the quantity of solvents
will differ when compared to the bioactivity
that can be stored on site, which can
of a cultivated plant. The plant part, which
be problematic for large scale extract
is normally listed in scientific publications,
manufacturing for product manufacture.
should be specified, and further details
A better alternative is to use, from the
should be documented for industry, such
research phase, solvents preferred by the
as the age of the leaves – were they large
industry, such as ethylene glycol, propylene
hardened leaves, apical buds or newly
glycol – which improves the solubility of
formed leaves? If twigs were included,
natural ingredients – or glycerin, which
were they hardened or still new growth?
simultaneously acts as a humectant.
As a researcher, one might think this finding out whether a plant has potential,
Upscaling of extract preparation
but when it comes to product or drug
After plant material has been collected,
development, these are the small things
the standard procedure at research
that can greatly influence the quality
institutions is to air dry the plant material.
control of the product.
This is then ground, mixed with the desired
information doesn’t matter in relation to
