L. Kren, B. Steinhoff and E. Wolfram
ESCOP was invited to organize a pre-workshop before the beginning of the “Tetranational Congress of Phytotherapy” held in Münster (a report will follow). Under the title “ESCOP´s current role and future in a world of change” it took place on September 23rd 2026. The ESCOP chair Dr. E. Wolfram gave a keynote lecture “ESCOP – Future based on the past” and the chair of ESCOP´s Scientific Committee, Dr. B. Steinhoff, a second lecture about the current importance of ESCOP-monographs.
A vivid discussion with the participants using the “world café” method followed, conducted by Dr. E. Wolfram, Dr. B. Steinhoff and the former chair Prof. Dr. L. Krenn, to collect opinions, impact and stimuli on three topics:
1. Pharmacological and clinical evidence in herbal medicine: How can scientific literature be transformed into statements and recommendations in monographs: Evidence or experience for explicit recommendations?
The discussion resulted in suggestions to grade indications according to the level of evidence as well as to reflect the tradition, if pharmacologically plausible or only experience of use. The indications should be valid for a broader range of comparable preparations and also presented in patient-friendly format. The quality of studies has to be the most important prerequisite, but also “minor” data might be valuable.
2. AI in monographs: Possibilities for the automatic acquisition of evidence and experience under final peer-review by human experts for distinct endorsement.
A workflow between AI and human experts for the speed-up in the elaboration of monographs was suggested. According to the participants, the first important decision in this work is the selection of the optimum database for literature search e.g. Embase, Pubmed, Cochrane. In this step the question of copyright and the legal download have to be resolved. Other significant points in the discussion were the generation of appropriate search strings and the use of agents for prompts.
3. What do you expect from ESCOP in the future? What can ESCOP achieve in cooperation with the national societies?
The major proposals from participants were the education in phytotherapy of young physicians and medical students, the launch of courses via medical associations in countries without societies of phytotherapy, the individual membership in ESCOP under strict and clear conditions of admission and more impact of ESCOP towards the HMPC.
In summary, the animated exchange between the participants and the members of ESCOP gave valuable impact from “outside” into the improvement of ESCOP´s projects and underlined the importance of such events.
Liselotte Krenn
Member of the ESCOP Board