Abstract
For the worldwide sourcing of medicinal plants as a high-quality raw material for
pharmaceutical processing, the use of satellite data and drones is of great
importance for quality assurance, risk assessment and risk mitigation, for
finding new raw material occurrences, research and development and as part of
GACP-compliant documentation and audits.
In many cases, recording the exact location data using GPS provides the basis for
subsequent evaluations and assessments of risks to the product and the
environment. In audits, they provide exact and quickly available documentation
of the production site or region for wild collection, the location of primary
processing and the transportation routes of the sensitive fresh matter for
subsequent drying.
Screenings are also based on this method and allow geographical “mapping” in
order to identify certain characteristics of populations or individual plants,
e. g., as eco- or chemotypes. These can be propagated and cultivated as “elite
crops” for specific requirements.
Remote sensing satellite images visualize structures, colours and plant species
in natural habitats and enable the identification of medicinal plant occurrences
in unknown areas. Recognition requires training with data that must be obtained
on site.
