Review of the Phytoneering Research & Experience Summit (PRES) 2019 “building bridges between nature’s healing potential and evidence-based medicine - 20 years of phytoneering”

Abstract

This brief communication summarizes the key highlights presented at the 2019 Phytoneering Research and Experience Summit held at the Palma Convention Centre and the educational finca Sa Canova (Majorca, Spain) from the 25th to the 27th of July 2019. More than 100 professionals from academia, industry and public services took part. The scientific programme included three dedicated symposium sessions and a moderated poster session. In total, 13 oral communications and 23 posters were presented. The invite-only conference, entitled: "Phytoneering Research & Experience Summit (PRES) 2019-Building bridges between nature's healing potential and evidence-based medicine-20 years of phytoneering", had participants from 20 different nations, reflecting the international character of the event. This participant group included researchers as well as clinicians with different fields of interest, e.g. gynaecology, urology, respiratory diseases and paediatrics. They all share an interest in evidence-based phytotherapy and phytoneering, which is the combination of ancient knowledge about medicinal plants and state-of-the-art technology to produce evidence-based herbal medicine. This approach offers solutions to reduce the growing number of unnecessarily prescribed antibiotics in the abovementioned areas, with the aim of preventing further progression of antibiotic resistance. The conference was sponsored by Bionorica® SE.