Chapter 31. To Market, To Market – 1994

Natural Products in Drug Discovery and Development

“…Of the new approved drugs reported between 1983 and 1994 (Table ), − drugs of natural origin (N and ND) predominate (78%) in the area of antibacterials, while 61% of the 31 anticancer drugs (excluding the six biologics) are naturally-derived (N and ND) or are modeled on a natural product parent (S*). On the other hand, analgesic, antidepressant, antihistamine, anxiolytic, cardiotonic, and hypnotic drugs, together with the antifungal agents, are exclusively synthetic in origin, while 67.5% of the antiinflammatory drugs are synthetic.…”

“…Over the past 10 years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the investigation of natural materials as a source of potential, new chemotherapeutic agents, but there are now signs that this interest is once more waning in favor of new approaches to drug discovery, such as combinatorial chemistry and computer-based molecular modeling designs. In order to provide a more solid basis for the claims made for the importance of natural products in drug discovery and development, data on new drugs approved by either the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or comparable entities in other countries, and reported mainly in the Annual Reports of Medicinal Chemistry for the years 1983−1994, − have been analyzed, predominantly in the areas of cancer and infectious diseases. Other data from a variety of sources have also been analyzed covering potential anticancer compounds reported to be in the pre-New Drug Application (NDA) phase up to the end of 1995.…”

Natural Products as Sources of New Drugs over the Period 1981−2002

“…Against this backdrop, we now present an updated analysis of the role of natural products in the drug discovery and development process, dating from 1981 to 2002. As in our earlier analysis, we have consulted Annual Reports of Medicinal Chemistry . − To extend the time frame and to cover other agents not captured in the Annual Reports of Medicinal Chemistry from 1983 to 2002, we have also added data from the publication Drug News and Perspective − and extended the search by using the Prous Ensemble database, thus permitting us to produce a more comprehensive coverage from 1981 to 2002.…”