Drug discovery and natural products: end of an era or an endless frontier?
Historically, the majority of new drugs have been generated from natural products (secondary metabolites) and from compounds derived from natural products. During the past 15 years, pharmaceutical industry research into natural products has declined, in part because of an emphasis on high-throughput screening of synthetic libraries. Currently there is substantial decline in new drug approvals and impending loss of patent protection for important medicines. However, untapped biological resources, "smart screening" methods, robotic separation with structural analysis, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology offer exciting technologies for new natural product drug discovery. Advances in rapid genetic sequencing, coupled with manipulation of biosynthetic pathways, may provide a vast resource for the future discovery of pharmaceutical agents.
Li
Jesse W-H
JW
Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G2, Canada.
Vederas
John C
JC
D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D001688:Biological Products / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques; D017277:Drug Approval; D015195:Drug Design; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends
D001688:Biological Products