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Abstract
The major programs in North America designed to study plants as sources of potential
drugs in which ethnomedical information is used to some extent are reviewed. Most
of this work is carried out in academic laboratories in the United States; funded
primarily from governmental agencies. A few major pharmaceutical companies in the
United States are involved in drug development, using plants as sources of starting
material, as well as many small start-up firms. These will be identified in the text
with their major thrust, where known. Additionally, the NAPRALERT database on natural
products will be described with the goal of illustrating how it may be used in the
drug development process. Attenders at the Congress were given an opportunity to query
the database on-line from Uppsala to Chicago.