Abstract

Medicinal plants have been foundational to traditional healthcare for millennia, providing accessible and cost-effective remedies. This review examines their evolving role in contemporary therapeutics, tracing progress from ancient practices to modern biomedical applications. Recent decades have witnessed a renaissance in phytotherapy driven by technological breakthroughs: green extraction using deep eutectic and supramolecular solvents, metabolic engineering via CRISPR-Cas9, and metabolomic standardization. The therapeutic efficacy of bioactive phytochemicals phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, and terpenoids has been validated across antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antidiabetic, and anticancer activities. Notably, plant compounds now function not only as direct therapeutics but also as adjuvants and resistance‑modifying agents, offering novel solutions to antimicrobial resistance and viral pandemics. Innovations in nanotechnology and exosome‑mediated delivery have significantly improved bioavailability and targeted administration. Despite these advances, persistent challenges in standardization, regulatory oversight, and the integration of plant and host microbiome factors remain. These are now being addressed by the emerging “phytobiome” framework, which considers plant genotype, endophytes, extraction methods, and gut microbiota as interacting determinants of efficacy. Recent regulatory approvals of plant‑derived drugs and artificial intelligence‑driven phytochemical discovery signal a new era of precision phytomedicine. Medicinal plants have thus transitioned from empirical remedies to dynamic, programmable tools poised to address major global health challenges in the coming decade.