Home›Drug Pipeline› RENISUS medicinal plants show promise across five clinical areas, but trials remain sparse
RENISUS medicinal plants show promise across five clinical areas, but trials remain sparseMedicinal plants show promise for wound healing and cancer support
Frontiers in MedicinePublished October 22, 2026DOI ↗Editorial oversight: Dr. Julia Lee, PhD · Oncology, Genomics & Drug Development
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Key Takeaway
Recognize that RENISUS plant evidence is mostly preclinical; clinical trials cover few species.
This systematic review synthesized the pharmacological, toxicological, clinical, and ethnobotanical literature on 71 species listed in RENISUS, the Brazilian national list of medicinal plants of interest to the public health system. From 9,070 unique records, 753 articles met inclusion criteria.
The authors report that in vitro and in vivo studies accounted for most of the included literature, while clinical trials cover only a narrow subset of the 71 species. For five focal species (Anacardium occidentale L., Ananas comosus (L.) Merr., Bidens pilosa L., Copaifera langsdorffii Desf., and Handroanthus impetiginosus (Mart. ex DC.) Mattos), the review describes promising findings across wound healing, oral mucositis, gynecological conditions, metabolic regulation, and oncological support.
Safety information was reported qualitatively: the review flags hepatotoxicity and herb-drug interactions as concerns. Serious adverse events, discontinuations, and tolerability data were not reported, and no pooled effect sizes or confidence intervals were provided.
The authors acknowledge that clinical trials cover a narrow subset of the 71 RENISUS species, which limits the strength of any clinical conclusions. Funding and conflicts of interest were not reported.
The review is positioned as a system-wide evidence baseline intended to support research prioritization, regulatory decision-making, and evidence-guided incorporation of medicinal plants into the Brazilian Unified Health System. It does not establish efficacy for any specific indication, and clinicians should interpret the clinical findings as hypothesis-generating rather than practice-changing.
How this fits prior evidence
This review extends prior coverage of oral mucositis interventions, which has included probiotic preparations, immunonutrition, hangeshashinto (RR 0.86), and a network meta-analysis supporting zinc and propolis. By identifying promising findings for oral mucositis among five focal RENISUS species, it adds a plant-based candidate set to that landscape, though without pooled effect sizes. It also contrasts with the more mechanistically focused prior items on cold atmospheric plasma and immune signaling by taking a system-wide, ethnobotany-anchored inventory approach. The review's own caveat that clinical trials cover a narrow subset of the 71 species keeps it consistent with the limited-certainty framing of earlier mucositis coverage.
Nature often holds the keys to healing, but we need solid evidence to know which plants actually work. A large review of 71 different RENISUS species looked at how these plants might help with serious issues like wound healing, oral mucositis (inflammation of the mouth), and metabolic regulation.
While the review looked at over 700 articles, it found that most of the evidence comes from lab tests and animal studies. Only a small number of these plants have been tested in human clinical trials. However, five specific plants showed promising results for supporting patients with cancer and managing gynecological conditions.
It is important to note that some of these plants can cause liver issues or interact poorly with other medications. Because clinical trials are still limited for most of these species, patients should always talk to their doctor before using herbal treatments to ensure they are safe and effective for their specific needs.
What this means for you:
Several medicinal plants show promise for wound healing and cancer support, but more human trials are needed.
Common questions
What conditions can these medicinal plants help treat?
The review found that five specific plants show promise for several conditions. These include wound healing, oral mucositis, gynecological conditions, metabolic regulation, and oncological support. These findings are based on a review of 71 different RENISUS species.
Are these herbal treatments safe to use?
Safety is a concern because some of these plants can cause hepatotoxicity, which means they can damage the liver. They can also cause herb-drug interactions, which means they might react poorly when taken with other medications. Always consult a doctor before use.
Is there a lot of evidence for these plants?
While the review looked at 753 articles, most of the data comes from lab and animal studies. Clinical trials, which test treatments on people, currently cover only a narrow subset of the 71 RENISUS species studied.
The Brazilian National List of Medicinal Plants of Interest to the Unified Health System (RENISUS) was created to guide the incorporation of botanical drugs into public health policies and services, but how far that validation actually extends—and how unevenly it is distributed across species—remains an open question. We conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature on the 71 RENISUS species using major bibliographic databases and institutional documents, without language restrictions. Studies were included if they reported pharmacological, toxicological, clinical, or ethnobotanical findings that bear on human health. Records were screened, selected, and mapped to each species, and plants were descriptively classified according to the predominant level of evidence. Five species had sufficient human clinical data to warrant in-depth analysis: Anacardium occidentale L. (Anacardiaceae), Ananas comosus (L.) Merr. (Bromeliaceae), Bidens pilosa L. (Asteraceae), Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. (Fabaceae), and Handroanthus impetiginosus (Mart. ex DC.) Mattos (Bignoniaceae). A preliminary database search retrieved 12,450 initial records. After deduplication, 9,070 unique records were screened against eligibility criteria, ultimately yielding 753 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. In vitro and in vivo studies accounted for most of the literature on RENISUS species. Clinical trials, where they exist at all, cover a narrow subset. The five focal species showed promising findings for wound healing, oral mucositis, gynecological conditions, metabolic regulation, and oncological support, alongside safety concerns—namely hepatotoxicity and herb–drug interactions—that, in some cases, should have surfaced in pharmacovigilance before reaching the literature as case reports. RENISUS encompasses a high diversity of medicinal plants with variable degrees of scientific validation. These findings provide a system-wide evidence baseline for the 71 RENISUS species and offer a practical framework for research prioritization, regulatory decision-making, and the evidence-guided incorporation of medicinal plants into the Brazilian Unified Health System.
