Who are we ?

The IRN QUALITY is an international research group funded by IRD for the period 2021-2029. This network is coordinated by Agnès Aubouy of the research unit PHARMADEV.

IRN QUALITY

The aim of the QUALITY network is to work on the quality of plant-based health products, with a focus on their eventual integration into healthcare systems, through partnership research between teams with varied and complementary skills.

Network’s members are :

  • L’Institut National de Recherche sur les Médecines et Pharmacopées Traditionnelles (INRMPT), Mali – Pr Rokia Sanogo, Pr Mahamane Haidara, Dr Daouda Dembele.
  • L’Institut de Recherche et de Développement des Plantes Médicinales et Alimentaires de Guinée (IRDPMAG) – Pr Elhadj Balde, Dr Mory Guilao, Dr Diane Séré, Dr Tanou Bah
  • L’Institut de Recherche en Biologie Appliquée de Guinée (IRBAG) – Pr Sahar Traoré, Dr Balde Aliou Mamadou
  • L’Institut de Recherches Cliniques du Bénin (IRCB) – Pr Achille Massougbodji
  • Le Laboratoire de Biochimie et Substances Naturelles Bioactives (LBSNB), UAC Bénin – Pr Latifou Lagnika, Satar Abdou Akadiri
  • Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Biosciences et Biotechnologies appliquées (ENSBBA), UNSTIM, Bénin – Pr Omédine Koukoui, Marcelin Agbo
  • Le laboratoire d'études et de recherche sur les dynamiques sociales et le développement local (LASDEL), FLASH, Université de Parakou, Bénin – Pr Emmanuel Sambiéni, Dr Lafia Amoussatou, Dr Audrey Hémadou
  • Laboratoire de pharmacognosie et des huiles essentielles (LaPHE), UAC, Bénin – Pr Joachim Gbenou, Dr Placide Toklo, Dr Fidèle Assogba, Dr Carine Kinsou
  • L’Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), unité MEPHATRA/PH, Burkina Faso – Dr Noufou Ouedraogo, Dr Tata Traoré, Dr Raïnatou Sondé, Dr Lassina Barro
  • Faculté de Médecine, de Pharmacie et d'Odonto-stomatologie (FMPO), UCAD, Sénégal – Pr Alioune Dior Fall, Dr Serigne Dieng
  • UFR Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques de l’Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire – Pr Yvette Fofie, Dr Edwige Alida Odoh, Dr Emmanuel Drogon
  • Le département de Pharmacologie et l’Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, Peru – Pr Mayar Luis Ganoza-Yupanqui, Dr Inés Castro, Dr Angélica Luz Suárez
  • L’Unité de recherche en produits naturels (UIPN) de l’UPCH, Peru – Pr Billy Cabanillas
  • L’UMR PHARMADEV IRD/Université Toulouse 3, France – Dr Agnès Aubouy, Dr Valérie Jullian, Pr Nicolas Fabre, Dr Maëlle Carraz, Dr Mohamed Haddad, Charlotte Dumondin
  • L’UMR CiTCoM CNRS/Université Paris Cité/Inserm, France – Dr Florence Chapeland-Leclerc et Ruprich-Robert Gwenaël
  • L’UMR CEPED, IRD/Université Paris Cité, France – Dr Véronique Duchesne
  • L’UMR CESSMA, IRD/Université Paris Cité/Inalco, France – Dr Jean-Yves Moisseron
  • Le département de pharmacognosie de l’Universite de Nouvelle-Calédonie – Pr Edouard Hnawia, Dr François Chassagne

PROBLEMATIC AND RESEARCH PROJECT

In most countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, South America and the Pacific, poverty and lack of access to the conventional healthcare system are still a real problem, despite the economic development of these countries. To address these issues, and in line with traditionally and culturally rooted practices, local populations frequently practice phytomedication using medicinal plants, mostly consumed in the form of herbal teas and often as a complement to pharmaceutical drugs. This widespread use of phytotherapy suggests that it can be an important public health tool.

The WHO has recognized this and published a strategy to help member states “harness the potential contribution of traditional and complementary medicine (TM/MC) to health, well-being and people-centred health care, and promote the safe and effective use of TM/MC through regulation of products, practices and practitioners”.

The first aspect of herbal health product quality concerns the identification of the plant species used in the product’s composition. Rigorous identification of the plants used is essential. Secondly, the absence of toxicity and the reproducibility of biological activity are essential properties to be demonstrated. Reproducibility of biological activity is a delicate aspect, since the product is composed of a plant extract, i.e. a complex mixture of molecules (compared to a drug composed of a pure molecule). Indeed, it is known that the metabolites contained in a plant varies significantly according to environmental conditions, drying and storage, with the potential consequence of variability in efficacy and even toxicity [1].

Knowledge of where plants are harvested and how they are processed is therefore an essential first step in the quality process. As an international network, IRN QUALITY has access to a wide range of resources, with variations both in the agro-pedo-climatic conditions under which medicinal plants grow, and in their processing and marketing practices. This is why the network is carrying out an innovative research project based on joint work on a selection of plants that will be exchanged between member teams in different countries, in order to gain access to a large dataset enabling a better understanding of the impact of these parameters on the quality of medicinal plants.

The aim is to build a consolidated database containing information on the botanical quality of the raw material, physico-chemical quality, contaminants and their sources, toxicity and pharmacological efficacy. In addition to being published for the scientific community, the data produced by the project will be used to train and/or inform the various stakeholders ( harvesters, traditional medicine practitioners, herbalists, phytomedicine producers, pharmacists, experts from approval agencies, etc.).

For more information, contact Agnès Aubouy

[1] Camara A, Haddad M, Traore MS, Chapeland-Leclerc F, Ruprich-Robert G, Fourasté I, Balde MA, Royo J, Parny M, Batigne P, Salon M, Coste A, Balde AM, Aubouy A. Variation in chemical composition and antimalarial activities of two samples of Terminalia Albida collected from separate sites in Guinea. BMC Complement Med Ther 2021, 21 (1), 64.

EQUIPES MEMBRES

MEMBER TEAMS

News

Rokia Sanogo receives the Prix Galien Afrique 2021 for her work in traditherapy

4 February 2022

The Prix Galien Afrique recognizes excellence and innovation. It is awarded for products, services and initiatives that are highly convincing or promising, in the field of innovative discoveries and therapies at the service of humanity. To learn more about this award, click here. For the category "Best traditherapy product", Pr Rokia SANOGO, member of the GDRI QUALITY, was awarded this prize on December 11, 2021 in Dakar (Senegal), by the President of the Republic of Senegal. For more information, click here.


First workshop of the nework QUALITY – 2021, December 15 and 16th

1 February 2022

The first workshop of our QUALITY network took place on December 15 and 16, 2021, by visioconference. Here is the detailed program.  

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