Natural Product Drug Discovery and Development: New Perspectives on International Collaboration

Abstract

Until recently, the prevailing attitude in developed nations regarded the world's genetic resources, which are mainly concentrated in the developing world, as a common resource of humankind, to be exploited freely irrespective of national origin. With the devastation being wreaked in the tropical rainforests and the resurgence in interest in recent years in the discovery of novel drugs from natural sources, particularly plants and marine organisms, the international scientific community has realized that the conservation of these global genetic resources and the indigenous knowledge associated with their use are of primary importance if their potential is to be fully explored. With this realization has come a recognition that these goals must be achieved through collaboration with, and fair and equitable compensation of, the scientists and communities of the genetically rich source countries. The signing of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity by nearly all of the World's nations has emphasized the need for the implementation of such policies. In this review, the articles of the Convention of relevance to the activities and practices of the natural products scientific community are briefly discussed. This discussion is followed by a summary of policies for international collaboration and compensation being implemented by several developed country organizations, and the perspectives on the current developments given by representatives of some of the source countries located in the regions of greatest biodiversity.

Cytotoxic and Antiviral Activities of Colombian Medicinal Plant Extracts of the Euphorbia genus

“…One of the recent developments is the highly automated bioassay screening method based on colorimetric assays, that quantify the proliferation of cell cultures (Mosmann 1983, Denizot & Lang 1986). These techniques, considered rapid and inexpensive for the evaluation of antitumour (Carmichael et al 1987, Rubinstein et al 1990) and antiviral activity (Weislow et al 1989) of a large number of natural products, have also permitted the isolation and purification of biologically active principles (Cordell 1995, Baker et al 1995.The objective of our work was to evaluate, using colorimetric assays, the in vitro antiherpetic and cytotoxic activity of some Euphorbia species that are known in Colombia, to have traditional medical uses against skin infections such as ulcers, warts, cancers, tumors, and possibly diseases of viral origin (Garcia-Barriga 1974, Perez 1975, Vasquez 1982, Bernal & Correa 1990, Piñeros et al 1992. …”

“…Furthermore, selection of plants gives better criteria for screening programs especially in its initial phases, compared to the screening of compounds isolated and/or purified from natural products (Kusumoto et al 1995, Cordell 1995, Baker et al 1995.…”

“…One of the recent developments is the highly automated bioassay screening method based on colorimetric assays, that quantify the proliferation of cell cultures (Mosmann 1983, Denizot & Lang 1986). These techniques, considered rapid and inexpensive for the evaluation of antitumour (Carmichael et al 1987, Rubinstein et al 1990) and antiviral activity (Weislow et al 1989) of a large number of natural products, have also permitted the isolation and purification of biologically active principles (Cordell 1995, Baker et al 1995.…”

Effect of Erytherina senegalensis on the oestrogen level and histology of ovary of an adult female albino wistar rats

“…High oestrogen levels are important for the luteinizing hormone surge that induces ovulation while a decline in oestrogen prevents ovulation [15][16][17]. Photomicrograph of the haematoxylin and eosin staining (H & E) of the ovary, revealed no visible lesion across the groups, which signifies that the presence of some biological molecules attempt to justify some of the ethno-medicinal applications of E. senegalensis [18][19][20][21][22].…”

In Vitro Cytotoxic Activity of Isolated Compounds From Viburnum Punctatum Buch-Ham Ex D. Don

“…The ancient scholastic works included in the Atharva veda, charaka and sushruta comprises a rich heritage of knowledge to preventive and curative medicines Natural products plays an important role in drug development programs in the pharmaceutical industry [1] and almost 50% of all modern drugs are of natural Origin [2], Due to the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of Herbal drugs, it gained much importance in the recent years.…”