> so called alternative medicine
Upwards of 80% of the world population rely on herbalism as their main source of health care as they have done for arguably hundreds of thousands of years. So as you say, what really is the "alternative" or "newage" (rhymes with sewage) medicine in the scenario...
To say nothing of the fact that the bulk of pharmaceuticals are derived from botanical sources, maybe with their main constituent tweaked slightly and synthesised in a lab to be able to qualify for a patent.