Drug discovery natural products

In addition to this historical success in drug discovery, natural products are likely to continue as sources of new commercially viable drug leads. The chemical novelty associated with natural products is higher than that of any other source 40% of the chemical scaffolds in a published database of natural products (Dictionary of Natural Chemistry). This is particularly important when searching for lead molecules against newly discovered targets. Despite commonly held assumptions, natural products can be a more economical source of chemical diversity than the synthesis of equivalent diverse chemicals. 

In summary, there are challenges ahead for natural product drug discovery, natural products have played a major role in the Animal Health market predicting the future will be a judgement call for those involved in the industry. 

Commercial evidence also supports the case for natural products. Of the 20 best-selling non-protein drugs in 1999, nine were either derived from or developed as the result of leads generated by natural products (e.g., simvastatin, lovastatin, ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin and cyclosprin) with combined annual sales of greater than US 16 billion. Newer developments based on natural products include the antimalarial drug artemisinin, and the anticancer agents taxol, docetaxel and camptothecin. In addition to the historical success in drug discovery, natural products are likely to continue to be sources of new commercially viable... 

M. Sufihess, "The Discovery and Development of Antitumor Drugs from Natural Products" in "Advances in Medicinal Plant Research", ed by A. J. Vlietinck and R. A. Dommisse, pp. 101 - 133 (1985), Wissenschat liche Verlagsgeselschaft mbH, Stuttgart. 

Koehn, F.F. and Carter, G.T. (2005) The evolving role of natural products in drug discovery. Nature Reviews. Drug Discovery, 4, 206-220. 

Improved molecular formula calculation fi om high resolution data, especially with incorporation of MS/MS data will benefit all areas of science using MS, including drug discovery, metabolomics, molecular diagnostics and environmental chemistry. Examples are the identification of drugs within natural product extracts [139], biomarkers within body fluids [145,348], or toxic compounds in environmental samples [31]. Identification of an unknown compound in all these fields starts with determination of the molecular formula. 

A. Aituso, Drugs of Natural Origin Economic and Policy Aspects of Discovery, Development, and Marketing, The Pharmaceutical Products Press, New York, 1997, p. 142. 

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