Natural products: a continuing source of novel drug leads.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Nature has been a source of medicinal products for millennia, with many useful drugs developed from plant sources. Following discovery of the penicillins, drug discovery from microbial sources occurred and diving techniques in the 1970s opened the seas. Combinatorial chemistry (late 1980s), shifted the focus of drug discovery efforts from Nature to the laboratory bench.

Scope of review

This review traces natural products drug discovery, outlining important drugs from natural sources that revolutionized treatment of serious diseases. It is clear Nature will continue to be a major source of new structural leads, and effective drug development depends on multidisciplinary collaborations.

Major conclusions

The explosion of genetic information led not only to no

SUBMITTER: Cragg GM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3672862 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature