Long long long before Big Pharma,
in that period of time called the Empircal Era (Pre-historic to 18th Century) - nature provided for much of the medicinal needs of humankind. Anthropological evidence suggests that way back Paleolithic times the Cro-Magnons used herbal medicines. Between then and now, evidence abounds: 5000 years ago, etched or painted on Sumerian slabs of clay; 3500 BC, ancient Egypt's over 700 medicinal formulas on temple walls; 2500 BC, the Chinese book on roots and grasses "Pen TSao", with 365 entries on dried medicinal plants written by Emperor Shen Nung; and ca 60 AD, the Greek physician, who recorded over 1000 medicinal plant recipes in De materia medica, which formed the basis of phamacopoeias for 1500 years. And, of course, Hippocrates, 460-380 BC, the "Father of medicine", used herbs for treatment, all listed in a compendium of 300 to 400 species. (2)

Medicinal plants sprout out the pages of the holy books: Hyssop, Balm of Gilead, Nard, Fig, and Mandrake in the Bible; the palm, olive, fig, pomegranate, garlic, onion, ginger in the Quran. Other Holy Book transcriptions dug up more aromatic and medicinal plants: cedar, cinnamon, calamus, coriander, myrrh, saffron, wormwood, among many others. Surveys and listings varied from 45 to 176 plant species as "Biblical Medicinal Plants.

Plants were also unholy ingredients to shamanic and witchcraft concoctions and brews. Since ancient times, psychoactive plants have provided for hallucinogenic effects, mystical experiences, religious rituals and ceremonies. Alas, also for homicidal ends.

Too, for millennia, animals have utilized plants and leaves for healing needs (Zoopharmacognosy). Ancient naturalists, Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, Aelian et al have recorded animal use of plants to treat wounds, repel parasites, and neutralize poisons. (Indeed, in the medicinal forest where I live, I have watched cats and dogs seeking out plants and leaves to chew on to alleviate their veterinary discomforts.)

Since Paleolithic times, or since the creationists' Garden of Eden, plants have provided for the healing needs of mankind. Medicinal plants were not "alternative." Ancient pharmacologists, physicians and alchemists have been pounding, grinding, boiling, distilling herbs, spices, leaves and roots for their healing recipes. Plants were the essentials, the sine qua non of the ancient apothecary's bag, foundational to almost all traditional healing ways.

Until . . .

The early 19th century marks the birth of modern pharmacognosy, when German pharmacist Friedrich Sertürner isolated morphine from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). From thereon, the inception of the pharmaceutical revolution, the extraction and isolation of active compounds from plant roots, leaves, bark, fruits and seeds, a pharmaceutical revolution of technologies that dug deeper and deeper into elemental and molecular basis of plant pharmacology - Molecular Farming, CRISPR Gene Editing, Advanced Green Extraction, Target Expression, to name a few, along with the use of nanotechnology and plant cell bioreactors — all contributing scientific validation to plant pharma, and, alas, inevitably, into the commerce of pharmaceuticals and into the holy grail of Big Pharma.

But, still, In that backdrop of millenia of plant medicinal use, the WHO estimates 80% of the world population, 170 of 194 member states, still rely on medicinal plants for health and healing. In developing countries, the reliance is as high as 70-95% for primary health care from over 60,000 plant species. For the most part, in developing nations, use of medicinal plants continue to be folkloric: a trove of oral traditions, culture-rooted, myth-laden, now exponentially enriched by the scientific validations via the cyber-sharing.

The past century has seen the enlightening effects of science on the folklore of medicinal plants, stripping off millenial layers of myth and magic. Still, globally, about 50,000 to 80,000 plant species are used for medicinal purposes. Approximately 25% to 40% of prescription drugs worldwide comes from plants. There are about 120 such active compounds being in current use. In the U.S., at least one ingredient in 25% of prescription medicines come from plants. Of the 252 drugs considered by the WHO as basic and essential, 11% are exclusively of plant origin, with a significant number of synthetic drugs coming from natural precursors. In the U.S. about 25% of prescriptions contain active ingredients from higher plants. Another estimate is that 60% of anti-tumor and anti-infectious drugs on the market and under clinical trial were of natural origin (Yue-Zhong Shu, 1998). (1) Approximately 121 medicinal items were developed throughout the course of the last century using traditional knowledge gathered from diverse sources.

Commerce of Big Pharma
The Real Alternative Medicine . . . For the Rich
It is to the remaining 20% of the world population that Big Pharma caters to: those requiring acute, complex, and chronic disease interventions, who can afford synthetic and bio-engineered drugs and patented and regulated therapeutics, to patient populations concentrated in high-income nations, generating a $1.6 trillion global market in 2024, and projected at $2.4T. (15) Yes, trillion/s, This is the THE alternative medicine - for the wealthy and privileged, and beneficiaries of high-end health insurance.

But in the confused linguistics of "alternative," global health terminology is ruled and defined by Western Biomedicine, institutional powers-that-be and regulatory standard bearers, along with educators and, sadly, doctors who all agreed to label herbal medicine as "alternative."

Alternative? . .. Not.
Today, 80% of the world's population currently use plant-derived medicines for their primary health-and-healing needs, for obvious reasons of cost, accessibility, and prevalent traditional knowledge, and the belief that medicinal plants are safer or safer, without the negative side effects of prescription medicines. And, of course, non-patentable: wild plants and naturally occurring compounds cannot be patented. In countless niches of the underserved populations, traditional plant-based medicine is not "alternative"—it is the sole accessible healthcare available.

By the sheer number of users, its millenia history of use, its foundational presence in almost all systems of traditional medicine, past and present, its immeasurable contributions to the ecosystem of prescription medicines, I posit: herbal medicine—plant pharma—is not alternative. It is the mainstay of health and healing.

In my more than 25 years of compilatory work on medicinal plants, 1,750-plus to date, I have been joyed by countless eureka moments of discovery — the beauty and the healing powers of the plants. As a physician, it was an easy crossroad to traverse, the familiar lexicon of the medicinal plant world's phytoconstituents and scientific studies. Alas, in the end, it leaves me dishearrtemed, having scoured through tens of thousands of scientific studies validating the medicinal properties of plants, seeing countless thousands of studies dumped into a dustbin of short-lived, soon-forgotten academic studies.

So, again, a clarion call. Whenever possible, the study of medicinal plants should be included in all educational curricula, An Elemtary and High School introduction into the wonderful world of plants. In college, to replace the predictably forgettable semesters of compulsory chemistry. And in medical curriculum: the study of medicinal plants, including thousands of unstudied endemic plants that will most certainly reveal to be a treasure trove of medicinal properties—as a stand-alone subject or incorporated into the subject of pharmacology where the study of medicinal herbs will inevitably opens corridors into a rich world of plant science, phytoconstituents, and biologic activities.

I rest my case.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Plants as source of drugs / SMK Rates / Toxicon, 2001; 39(5): pp 603-613 / DOI: 10.1016/S0041-0101(00)00154-9
(2)
Historical review of medicinal plants’ usage / Biljana Bauer Petrovska / Pharmacogn Rev. 2012; 6(11): pp 1-5 / DOI: 10.4103/0973-7847.95849
(3)
List of drugs by year of discovery / Wikipedia
(4)
9 Famous Examples of Drugs That Came From Plants / Integrative Medicine, 2018
(5)
Medical Botany / USDA
(6)
Medicinal plants of the Bible—revisited / Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2019; 15(57) / DOI: 10.1186/s13002-019-0338-8
(7)
ANCIENT HERBS / Jeanne D'Andrea / The J. Paul Getty Museum
(8)
List of Medicines Made From Plants / Anne Marie Helmenstine, PhD / ThoughtCo
(9)
10 Ancient Medicinal Plants in the Bible / Northwest School of Aromatic Medicine
(10)
Medicinal plants of the Bible - revisited / Amots Dafni, Barbara Böck / Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2019; 15(57) / DOI: 10.1186/s130020190338-8
(11)
Sacred Plants and Their Miraculous or Healing Properties / Ana Maria Rosso / Qeios
(12)
How humans learned to self-medicate with certain plants by observing animals / PBS News
(13)
Animals Using Healing Plants Is Old News, Says Classics Prof / Mind Matters
(14)
The Remarkable Medicines Wild Animals Find in Nature / Denyse O'Leary / MindMatters
(15)
Pharmaceutical Statistics 2026: The Industry by the Numbers / onetwenty

DOI: It is not uncommon for links on studies/sources to change. Copying and pasting the information on the search window or using the DOI (if available) will often redirect to the new link page. (Citing and Using a (DOI) Digital Object Identifier)