Plant extracts or their pure natural constituents have been used traditionally for thousands of years for treating diseases with considerable success in India and other Asian countries. In addition, they have also been used as complements or supplements with conventional medicine. This book discusses the latest research in the application of combination therapy, namely herbs and drugs, in the treatment of a range of communicable and non-communicable diseases to achieve a synergistic effect. This synergy may help in reducing the amount of drug, its toxicity, side effects, and development of resistance as well as improve its efficacy. The book also discusses the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic parameters, experimental tools to determine the impact of combination, computational approaches to identify synergy, statistical analysis of data, and clinical and regulatory issues. The book is useful for researchers in the fields of pharmacology, pharmacy and medicinal chemistry and those working in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. This book could open up new strategies to focus on multiple targets to combat complex diseases unlike the single targeted drugs that are being currently marketed by the pharmaceuticals industries.

This book contains comprehensive and up-to-date reviews of multidrug resistance mechanisms. The book intends to provide a state-of-the-art collection of reviews and methods for both basic and clinician investigators who are interested in multidrug resistance mechanisms and reversal strategies. We believe that this information will be of value to clinicians, epidemiologists, microbiologists, virologists, parasitologists, public health authorities, medical students, and fellows in training. Each chapter begins with a summary of the concepts, so that those not actively working in the field can readily gain an overall picture of what follows. The book contains 13 chapters which deal with the antibiotic resistance mechanism in bacteria, fungus, virus and also methicillin resistance S.aureus. The book also explains the futuristic strategy to deal with the antibiotic resistance. We have endeavoured to provide this information in a style that is accessible to the broad community of persons who are concerned with the impact of drug resistance in our clinics and across broader global communities.