ETM-DB is a free, online relational database containing Ethiopian herbal medicine, related compounds and target gene/proteins. Ethiopia is endowed with an affluence of botanical remedies that have proven useful over a long time, especially in the rural areas where modern health care is much less accessible. It is estimated that about 80% of the Ethiopian population, predominantly in the rural areas, use traditional medicine. There are about 6,500-7,500 plant species in Ethiopia, of which an estimated 12% are endemic to Ethiopia.

To develop ETM-DB, online research articles, theses, books, and public databases containing Ethiopian herbal medicine and phytochemicals information were searched. These resources were thoroughly inspected and the necessary data were collected using manual curation and Python/Java codes. In addition, we used cheminformatics tools to compute physicochemical and ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity) properties of the phytochemicals.

The ETM-DB website interface allows users to search the entities and relationships using the available options provided by the search menu. We hope that our database will expedite drug discovery and development research from Ethiopian natural products as it contains information on the chemical composition and related human target gene/proteins. The current version of ETM-DB is openly accessible at http://biosoft.kaist.ac.kr/etm.