Discovery and resupply of pharmacologically active plant-derived natural products: A review.
Medicinal plants have historically proven their value as a source of molecules with therapeutic potential, and nowadays still represent an important pool for the identification of novel drug leads. In the past decades, pharmaceutical industry focused mainly on libraries of synthetic compounds as drug discovery source. They are comparably easy to produce and resupply, and demonstrate good compatibility with established high throughput screening (HTS) platforms. However, at the same time there has been a declining trend in the number of new drugs reaching the market, raising renewed scientific interest in drug discovery from natural sources, despite of its known challenges. In this survey, a brief outline of historical development is provided together with a comprehensive overview of used approaches and recent developments relevant to plant-derived natural product drug discovery. Associated challenges and major strengths of natural product-based drug discovery are critically discussed. A snapshot of the advanced plant-derived natural products that are currently in actively recruiting clinical trials is also presented. Importantly, the transition of a natural compound from a "screening hit" through a "drug lead" to a "marketed drug" is associated with increasingly challenging demands for compound amount, which often cannot be met by re-isolation from the respective plant sources. In this regard, existing alternatives for resupply are also discussed, including different biotechnology approaches and total organic synthesis. While the intrinsic complexity of natural product-based drug discovery necessitates highly integrated interdisciplinary approaches, the reviewed scientific developments, recent technological advances, and research trends clearly indicate that natural products will be among the most important sources of new drugs also in the future.
Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Atanas G
AG
Atanasov
Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmacognosy and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Birgit
B
Waltenberger
Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 4/I, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Eva-Maria
EM
Pferschy-Wenzig
Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry, Vienna University of Technology, Getreidemarkt 9/163-OC, 1060 Vienna, Austria.
Thomas
T
Linder
Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Christoph
C
Wawrosch
Institute of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis Research, Center of Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Pavel
P
Uhrin
Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Veronika
V
Temml
Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Limei
L
Wang
Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmacognosy and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Stefan
S
Schwaiger
Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Elke H
EH
Heiss
Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.|Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmacognosy and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Judith M
JM
Rollinger
Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Daniela
D
Schuster
Institute of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis Research, Center of Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Johannes M
JM
Breuss
Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Graz, Humboldtstrasse 46/III, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Valery
V
Bochkov
Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry, Vienna University of Technology, Getreidemarkt 9/163-OC, 1060 Vienna, Austria.
Marko D
MD
Mihovilovic
Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Brigitte
B
Kopp
Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 4/I, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Rudolf
R
Bauer
Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Verena M
VM
Dirsch
Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmacognosy and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Hermann
H
Stuppner
D001688:Biological Products / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D055808:Drug Discovery; D004345:Drug Industry; D006801:Humans; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*
D001688:Biological Products
Computer modeling; Drug discovery; Ethnopharmacology; Medicine; Natural products; Organic synthesis; Pharmacology; Phytochemistry; Plant biotechnology; Plants