Abstract
Drug discovery leading to robust and viable lead candidates’ remains a challenging scientific task, which is the transition from a screening hit to a drug candidate, requires expertise and experience. Natural products and their derivatives have been recognized for many years as a source of therapeutic agents and of structural diversity. However, in addition to their chemical structure diversity and their biodiversity, the development of new technologies has revolutionized the screening of natural products in discovering new drugs. Applying these technologies compensates for the inherent limitations of natural products and offers a unique opportunity to re-establish natural products as a major source for drug discovery. The present article attempts to describe the utilization of compounds derived from natural resources as drug candidates, with a focus on the success of these resources in the process of finding and discovering new and effective drug compounds, an approach commonly referred to as “natural product drug discovery”.
Highlights
Natural products, including plants, animals and minerals have been the basis of treatment of human diseases [1,2]
The idea that effect of drug in human body are mediated by specific interactions of the drug molecule with biological macromolecules led scientist to the conclusion that individual chemical compounds in extracts, rather than some mystical “power of life” are the factors required for the biological activity of the drug
Genomics and CBD have made a great impact on natural product-based drug discovery (NPDD), whereas emerging new biotech ventures based on NPDD and biological resource centers are expected to play a key role in this field
Summary
Natural products, including plants, animals and minerals have been the basis of treatment of human diseases [1,2]. The idea that effect of drug in human body are mediated by specific interactions of the drug molecule with biological macromolecules (proteins or nucleic acids in most cases) led scientist to the conclusion that individual chemical compounds in extracts, rather than some mystical “power of life” are the factors required for the biological activity of the drug. This lead to the beginning of a totally new era in pharmacology, as pure, isolated chemicals, instead of extracts, became the standard treatments for diseases. It’s offers a broad overview of the newest techniques being used in pharmaceutical research today for drug discovery
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