2015 ABC Varro E. Tyler Award for Phytomedicinal Research recipient announced
MediHerb, an Integria Healthcare brand, is a leading natural products company that specializes in research-based botanical medicines designed by and for professional health care providers and clinicians.
“MediHerb is a company that has invested millions of dollars to back up the benefits of herbal medicine with sound science,” said Stefan Gafner, PhD, ABC Chief Science Officer. “This philosophy of testing products in human clinical studies as a basis for rational phytotherapy makes MediHerb a much-deserving awardee.”
The ABC Tyler Award was created to honor one of the most respected scientists in late-20th century herbal medicine and pharmacognosy (the study of medicines of natural origin). Professor Tyler was an early trustee of ABC, dean of the Purdue University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences for 20 years, and vice president of academic affairs at Purdue. Tyler encouraged scientific and product integrity, and envisioned a rational phytomedicinal health care sector that valued the proper evaluation of products’ quality, safety, and efficacy.
Mark Blumenthal, ABC’s founder and executive director, said: “I consider MediHerb to be a prime example of Professor Tyler’s wish that herb and phytomedicinal companies document the efficacy of their products through appropriate clinical trials.”
Integria Healthcare invests more than $5 million in research and development each year, according to the company. Echinacea Premium and Kava Forte are two of MediHerb’s most popular clinically studied natural products.
“I am a firm believer that herbal therapy (or phytotherapy) should always be adding to its clinical evidence base, but in a way that respects and is compatible with its traditional principles,” said Professor Kerry Bone, co-founder of MediHerb and director of research and development. “Understanding complex modern diseases in their totality and applying subtle but effective, chemically complex interventions underpinned by that knowledge is, to me, the height of rationality. This has always guided our research approach.
“This is a great honor and a much-appreciated reward for our many years of research into the phytochemistry, quality, and therapeutic properties of medicinal plants.”
Bone is a member of the ABC Advisory Board.
The 11th Annual ABC Botanical Celebration and Awards Ceremony will take place on March 10, 2016, in Anaheim, California. The event, for ABC Sponsor Members, occurs during Natural Products Expo West.
