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Santalum album Oil as a Pharmaceutical Agent

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Indian Sandalwood

Part of the book series: Materials Horizons: From Nature to Nanomaterials ((MHFNN))

Abstract

The essential oil produced by steam distillation from the heartwood of East Indian sandalwood trees (Santalum album) has been used as a traditional medicine for centuries due to its broad spectrum of biological properties. Recent biochemical studies have begun to elucidate the specific mechanisms of action of the oil and its major components. The creation of guidelines for the development of botanical drugs as a special category by regulatory agencies such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed the development of complex mixtures such as sandalwood oil as potential pharmaceutical agents. Sandalwood oil has been shown in several early Phase 2 clinical trials in the USA to give promising results. Extensive pivotal clinical studies are required to confirm the beneficial activity and favourable safety profile seen in these early human studies.

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  1. LLC, 7 Ryans Point Dr, TX, 78248, San Antonio, USA

    Corey Levenson

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Silviculture and Forest Management Division, Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bengaluru, India

    A. N. Arunkumar

  2. Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun, India

    Geeta Joshi

  3. Plant Biotechnology and Cytogenetics Division, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India

    Rekha R. Warrier

  4. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, India

    N. Nataraja Karaba

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Levenson, C. (2022). Santalum album Oil as a Pharmaceutical Agent. In: Arunkumar, A.N., Joshi, G., Warrier, R.R., Karaba, N.N. (eds) Indian Sandalwood. Materials Horizons: From Nature to Nanomaterials. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6565-3_30

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