Natural drugs

It is over three centuries since cinchona bark came into use in European medicine, and no other natural drug has had so much written about it. There are the stories, sometimes legendary, of its discovery by Europeans, vigorous early discussions of its therapeutic value, the destruction of the S. American cinchona trees to meet the demand for bark, the labours of botanical explorers in collecting seed for the formation of plantations, the establishment and development of these plantations in Ceylon, India and Java, the competition between them, the gradual emergence of Java as the world s most important source of supply of cinchona bark, and the development of the manufacture of quinine sulphate in Europe, the United States and the Tropics. ... 

Venisetty RK, Ciddi V (2003) Application of microbial biotransformation for the new drug discovery using natural drugs as substrate. Curr PharmaceutBiotechnol 4 153-167... 

Obtain a thorough history of prescription, nonprescription, and natural drug product use. Determine what treatments for cholesterol the patient has used in the past (if any). Assess if the patient is taking any medications that may contribute to his or her abnormal lipid levels. 

Perform a thorough medication history (nonprescription, prescription, and natural drug products), food, and patient history to determine exacerbating factors. 

Obtain a thorough history of nonprescription, prescription, and natural drug product use. Determine which treatments have been helpful in the past. 

Obtain a complete history of prescription, nonprescription, and natural drug products. Avoid or discontinue agents that increase calcium levels, impair excretion of calcium, or decrease renal function. 

The success in determining the chemical structure of qinghaosu is only one example of the accomplishments of chemists in attaining a better understanding of the relationship between the chemical structure of natural drugs and their pharmacological effects. Those accomplishments have formed the basis of a whole new phase of the pharmaceutical industry in which natural products and their derivatives provide an extensive source of new drugs. 

Other examples of natural drugs may be pointed out streptozotocin (from streptomyces achromogenes), bleomycin (from streptomyces verticillus), adriamy-cin and daunomycin (from streptomyces pencetius), mitomycin C (from streptomyces caesipitosus), vincristine, vinblastine and vindoline (from catharanthus roseus or vinca rosea L.). 

Bajorath, J. (2002) Integration of virtual and high-throughput screening. Nature Drug Discov. Rev. 1, 337-346. 

Hammond, C. T. and P. G. Mahlberg. Phloroglucinol glucoside as a natural constituent of Cannabis sativa. Phytochemistry 1994 37(3) 755-756. Kataoka, M. and Y. Takagaki. Effect of the crude drugs (standards of natural drugs not in the J. P. XII) on beta-hexosaminidase release from rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells. Nat Med 1995 49(3) 346-349. 

Commercial natural drugs and folk medicines Ofiicially, about 25% of the most prescribed drugs derive directly or indirectly from natural products, which is probably an underestimate because of biopyracy (Carlson 1997). 

Medicinal Benefits of Marine Invertebrates Sources for Discovering Natural Drug Candidates... 

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