All pharmaceutical dosage forms contain many additives besides the active ingredients to assist manufacturing and to obtain the desired effect
of the pharmaceutical active ingredients. The advances in drug delivery have simultaneously urged the discovery of novel excipients which are
safe and fulfill specific functions and directly or indirectly influence the rate and extent of release and /or absorption. The plant derived gums and
mucilages comply with many requirements of pharmaceutical excipients as they are non-toxic, stable, easily available, associated with less
regulatory issues as compared to their synthetic counterpart and inexpensive; also these can be easily modified to meet the specific need. Most
of these plant derived gums and mucilages are hydrophilic and gel- forming in nature. Recent trend towards the use of plant based and natural
products demands the replacement of synthetic additives with natural ones. Many plant derived natural materials are studied for use in novel
drug delivery systems, out of which polysaccharides, resins and tannins are most extensively studied and used. This review discusses about the
majority of these plant-derived polymeric compounds, their sources, extraction procedure, chemical constituents, uses and some recent
investigations as excipients in novel drug delivery systems.