L. Kren, B. Steinhoff and E. Wolfram
ESCOP was kindly invited by Prof. A. Hensel and the German Society of Phytotherapy to hold a pre-workshop of the Tetranational Congress of Phytotherapy held in Münster (a short Congress 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:
Topic 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. A suggestion, which ESCOP already has in the pipeline. 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.
Under topic 2 a workflow combining AI and human experts to speed-up the elaboration of monographs was suggested and experience with different tools was exchanged. While Large Language Models can readily be applied to summarize texts and for final editing, extracting results from PDFs may pose particular challenges, as many results are presented in graphs and tables. According to the participants, the first step in preparing a monograph – the literature search and screening – is a critical part of the workflow. : Several questions need to be resolved: copyright and legal downloading as well as the criteria, distinguishing relevant, high-quality studies from publications that do not qualify for inclusion. Other significant points of the discussion were the generation of appropriate search strings and the use of AI 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 under topic 3 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