Norbert M. Maier and Wolfgang Lindner

The susceptibility of the biological machinery to enantioselective interactions, however, is not limited to chiral compounds of endogenous origin. Frequently, biological systems exert substantial levels of stereoselectivity for exogenous chiral molecules, for example, odorants [1], pheromones [2], agrochemicals [3, 4], environmental pollutants [5-7] and, most importantly, drug compounds [8-11]. 

Chirality in Drug Research. Edited by Eric Francotte and Wolfgang Lindner 

Copyright 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim 

Regulatory guidance documents on the development of chiral drugs, mirroring 

The recognition of chirality as a new asset in drug development has had an enormous effect on fhe product pipelines of fhe major players in the pharmaceutical industry. A most recent analysis of the distribution of worldwide-approved drugs according to fheir chirality character is given in Fig. 7.1 [20]. 

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