Nature Inspired Discovery and Development of Antibacterials: An Update

Abstract

The growing prevalence of pathogens resistant to several drugs poses an urgent health concern, which can only be addressed by increasing support for the research and development of newer antibiotics. Drug discovery through the exploration of nature's treasures is a successful and ongoing endeavor. However, the conventional method of discovering new drugs from natural sources has become an adjunct choice of the pharmaceutical corporations since it is time-consuming, complicated, expensive, and fraught with uncertainty. The application of several computational techniques, including combinatorial chemistry, metagenomics, and high throughput screening, has accelerated the drug development process simultaneously reducing costs and time. It is a well-established fact that synthetic drugs generated through computer-aided research are frequently linked to a restricted spectrum of pharmacological activity and adverse side effects as compared to treatments that are either directly or indirectly derived from natural sources. Hence, an innovative drug discovery program may be centered on the virtual design of molecules using a scaffold with a natural origin in order to develop effective and affordable therapies with a wide variety of functionality