Current Trends on Natural Bioenhancers: A Review

Bioenhancers are such agents, which by themselves are not therapeutic entities but when combined with an active drug lead to the potentiation of the pharmacologic effect of the drug. When any drug molecules are being introduced in every year but many of these molecules have problems like their solubility, stability, bioavailability and its long lasting side effects. Low bioavailability is one of the serious but curable problems in case of the drug molecule. There are some other factors also which responsible for low bioavailability i.e. low lipophilicity and zwitterionic character at physiological pH, poor water solubility or efflux by P-glycoprotein (P-gp) etc. The object of this review is to explore the concept of bioavailability to achieve better therapeutic response in appropriate dose using natural drugs and natural products like ginger, caraway, aloe, quercetin, glycyrrhizin piperine, curcumin etc. The use of natural products is the most reliable means for bioavailability enhancement because these are safe, non-toxic, economical, easily procured, non-addictive, pharmacologically inert and non-allergenic in nature etc. Herbal bioenhancer are use for various categories of drug like neutraceuticals, antibiotics, antitubercular and anticancer and cardiovascular for immediate effects. Bioenhancers are recently used in many novel drug delivery formulations such as liposomes, transferosomes, ethosomes etc. This review explores the natural drugs from plant and animal sources with their mechanism, in-vivo study, marketed formulation and its future prospective. Researchers must solve these issues of drug toxicity to deliver a safe and effective dose of drugs to attain desired pharmacological response.