Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Natural products in drug discovery – Creating a new vision

  • Published:
Phytochemistry Reviews Aims and scope Submit manuscript

    We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

    Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

Abstract

“If only they had chosen to develop natural product drugs in a sustainable manner at the turn of the century”. In 2050, when the Earth has a population of at least 9 billion, will this be our legacy as the world contemplates the costs and availability of synthetic and gene-based products for primary health care? For most people in the world, plants, in their various forms, remain a primary source of health care. However, in the developed countries, natural products derived from plants assume a very minor role as prescription and over-the-counter products, even with the widespread use of phytotherapeutical preparations. With the continuing decline of natural products in large scale, ultrahigh-throughput screening programs in pharmaceutical industry, and acknowledging the recent history of the relationship between humankind and the Earth, it is essential that we consider what are the health care issues that we are leaving for our descendants? Where do our responsibilities as global citizens and scientists coalesce? What is the vision for natural product research that we must create now in order to maintain the choices of drug discovery and pharmaceutical development for future generations? In order to assist us in creating this vision, we will examine some facets of how natural products must be involved globally in a sustainable manner for improving health care. We will discuss access to the biome, the acquisition, analysis and dissemination of plant knowledge, the safety and efficacy of traditional plant remedies, analytical and biotechnology development, and natural product structure diversification and drug discovery potential. Finally, we will address the question of who will fund this vision?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adang AE & Hermkens PH (2001) The contribution of combinatorial approaches to lead generation: an interim analysis. Curr.Med. Chem. 8: 985–998.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Anon (1998) Business Communications Company, Inc. study, RB-121. Plant-derived drugs: Products, technologies and applications.

  • Anon (2001a) Handbook of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (pp. 690). Earthscan, London, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (2001b) Niche markets IV: whatever happened to herbs? Nutr. Bus. J. VI(3): 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balick MJ & Cox PA (1996) People, Plants, and Culture. Scientific American Library, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boonstra B, Rathbone DA & Bruce NC (2001) Engineering novel biocatalytic routes for production of semisynthetic opiate drugs. Biomol. Eng. 18: 41–47.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Borman S (1997). Combinatorial chemistry. Chem. & Eng. News 24: 43–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borman S (2001) Combinatorial chemistry. Chem. & Eng. News 27: 49–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady SF & Clardy J (2000) N-Acyl amino acid antibiotics isolated from heterologously expressed environmental DNA. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122: 12903–12904.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burke M (2002) Pharma’s Market. Chem. Brit. 38(6): 30–32.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clark DE & Pickett SD (2000) Computational methods for the prediction of drug-likeness. Drug Discov. Today 5: 49–58.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (1987a) Pharmacognosy: far from dead. Am. Druggist March: 96–98.

  • Cordell GA (1987b) Pharmacognosy: far from dead. Thai. J. Pharm. Sci. 12: 221–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (1990a) Pharmacognosy-a high tech pharmaceutical science. Pharmacia 30: 169–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (1990b) Pharmacognosy-the high tech pharmaceutical science. In: Proceedings of the second international symposium on recent advances in natural products research (pp. 24–40). Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (1991) Strategies for new drug development from traditional medicinal plants. In: Kim BK, Lee EB, Kim CK & Han YN (eds) Advances in New Drug Development (pp. 357–369). The Pharmaceutical Society of Korea, Seoul, Korea.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (1992) Not for us-but for our descendants. Thai. J. Pharm. Sci. 16: 1–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (1993) Pharmacognosy-New Roots for an Old Science. In: Atta-ur-Rahman & Basha FZ (eds) Studies in Natural Products Chemistry, Volume 13. Bioactive Natural Products (Part A) (pp. 629–675). Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (1994) Intellectual Property. In: Seidel PR (ed) The use of biodiversity for sustainable development: Investigation of bioactive products and their commercial applications (pp. 78–94). Academia Brasileria de Ciencias, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (1995a) Natural products as medicinal and biological agents: potentiating the resources of the rain forest. In: Seidel PR, Gottlieb OR & Kaplan MAC (eds) Chemistry of the Amazon. American Chemical Society Symposium Series No. 588 (pp. 8–18). Washington, DC.

  • Cordell GA (1995b) Changing strategies in natural products chemistry. Phytochemistry 40: 1585–1612.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (1999) Discovery of biological and medicinal agents from plants in the 21st century. In: Proceedings of the Second Princess Chulabhorn Science Congress (pp. 509–517). Chulabhorn Research Institute, Thailand.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (2000a) Biodiversity and drug discovery-a symbiotic relationship. Phytochemistry 55: 463–480.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (2000b) The future of plant-derived natural products in drug discovery. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Recent Advances in Natural Products Research (pp. 1–11). Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (2001a) Plants and drug discovery-a future perspective. In: Wu ZG & Iwatsuki K (eds) Proceedings of the International Symposium onMan and Nature (pp. 98–104). Kunming Institute of Botany and The Commemorative Foundation for the International Garden and Greenery Exposition, Osaka, Japan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (2001b) What’s in a name? Evaluating the safety and potency of commercial phytotherapeutical products. In: Proceedings of the International Forum on Traditional Medicine (pp. 17–26). Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Toyama, Japan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (2002a) Recent developments in the study of biologically active natural products. ACGC Chem. Res. Commun. 14: 31–63.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA (2002b) Perspectives on the future role of plants in drug discovery. In: Chemicals in the 21st Century. Proceedings of the Fourth Princess Chulabhorn International Science Congress (pp. 123–133). Chulabhorn Research Institute, Bangkok, Thailand.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA, Beecher CWW, Kinghorn AD, Pezzuto JM, Constant HL, Fang L, Seo EK, Long L, Cui BL & Barrilos KS (1997) The dereplication of natural products. In: Atta-ur-Rahman (ed) Studies in Natural Products Chemistry, Vol. 19 (pp. 749–791). Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA, Quinn-Beattie ML & Farnsworth NR (2001) The potential of alkaloids in drug discovery. Phytother. Res. 15: 183–205.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cordell GA & Shin YG (1999) Finding the needle in the haystack. The dereplication of natural product extracts. Pure Appl. Chem. 71: 1089–1094.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Corley DG & Durley RC (1994) Strategies for database dereplication of natural products. J. Nat. Prod. 57: 1484–1490.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cox PA (2000) Will tribal knowledge survive the millennium? Science 287: 44–45.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cox PA (2001) Ensuring equitable benefits: the Falealup Covenant and the isolation of anti-viral drug prostratin from a Samoan medicinal plant. Pharmaceut. Biol. 39: 33–40.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cragg GM, Newman DJ & Snader KM (1997) Natural Products in Drug Discovery and Development. J. Nat. Prod. 60: 52–60.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Daniell H (2001) Medical molecular pharming: production of antibodies, biopharmaceuticals, and edible vaccines in plants. Trends Plant Biol. 6: 2190–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebel J & Cosio EG (1994) Elicitors of plant defense responses. Int. Rev. Cytol. 148: 1–36.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenfeld D (1988) Why put a value on biodiversity? In: Wilson EO (ed) Biodiversity (pp. 212–216). National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farnsworth NR (1988) Screening plants for new medicines. In: Wilson EO (ed) Biodiversity (pp. 83–97). National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farnsworth NR, Akerele O, Bingel AS, Soejarto DD & Guo Z (1985) Medicinal plants in therapy. Bull. WHO 63: 965–981.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farnsworth NR & Morris RW (1976) Higher plants-the sleeping giant of drug development. Am. J. Pharm. Ed. 148:46–52.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Giddings G, Allison G, Brooks D & Carter A (2000) Transgenic plants as factories for biopharmaceuticals. Nature Biotechnol. 18: 1151–1155.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Henry CM (2002) Itsy-bitsy mass spectrometers. Chem. & Eng. News 8: 34–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hileman B (2002) Drugs from plants stir debate. Chem. & Eng. News 12: 22–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khosla C & Zawada RJX (1996) Generation of polyketide libraries via combinatorial biosynthesis. Trends Biotechnol. 14: 335–341.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kroll DJ (2001) Potential for herb-drug interactions suggests need for more research. J. Herbal Pharmacother. 1: 3–23.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kutchan TM, Bock A, Dittrich H (1994) Heterologous expression of the plant proteins strictosidine synthase and berberine bridge enzyme in insect cell culture. Phytochemistry 35: 353–360.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mendelson R & Balick MJ (1995) The value of undiscovered pharmaceuticals in tropical forests. Econ. Bot. 49: 223–228.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers N (1988) Tropical forests and their species: going, going...? In: Wilson EO (ed) Biodiversity (pp. 28–35). National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman DJ, Cragg GM & Snader KM (2000) The influence of natural products upon drug discovery. Nat. Prod. Rep. 17: 215–234.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolaou KC, Pfefferkorn JA, Roecker AJ, Cao GQ, Baruenga S & Mitchell HJ (2000) Natural product-like combinatorial libraries based on privileged structures. 1. General principles and solidphase synthesis of benzopyrans. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 122: 9939–9953 and references therein.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill MJ & Lewis JA (1993) The renaissance of plant research in the pharmaceutical industry. In: Kinghorn AD & Balandrin MF (eds) Human Medicinal Agents from Plants, ACS Symposium Series No. 534 (pp. 48–55). American Chemical Society, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Randall A (1988) What mainstream economists have to say about the value of biodiversity. In: Wilson EO (ed) Biodiversity (pp. 217–223). National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rates SMK (2001) Plants as sources of drugs. Toxicon 39: 603–613.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reisch MS (2001) Striving for sustainability. Chem. & Eng. News 3: 17–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothenberg M & Ling V (1989) Multidrug resistance: molecular biology and clinical relevance. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 81: 907–913.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rouhi AM (2002) Green Chemistry for Pharma. Chem. & Eng. News 22: 30–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salvage F (2202) Size matters. Chem. Brit. 38(5): 32–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Short P (2002) U.K. turns to drug discovery. Chem. & Eng. News August 12: 14–16.

  • Smith RH (2001) Nanotechnology gains momentum. Mod. Drug Discov. April: 33–38.

  • Soejarto DD, Tarzian-Sorenson JA, Gyllenhaal C, Cordell GA, Farnsworth NR, Kinghorn AD & Pezzuto JM (2002) The evolution of the University of Illinois’ policy of benefit-sharing in research on natural products. In: Stepp JR, Wundham FS & Zarger R (eds) Ethnobiology and Biocultural Diversity (pp. 21–30). University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tacket CO, Mason HS, Losonsky G, Clements JD, Levine MM & Arntzen CJ (1998) Immunogenicity in humans of a recombinant bacterial antigen delivered in a transgenic potato. Nature Med. 4: 607–609.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thayer AM (1998) Pharmaceuticals: redesigning R & D. Chem. & Eng. News 23: 25–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • The World Almanac and Book of Facts (2001).

  • Verpoorte R (1998) Exploration of nature’s chemodiversity: the role of secondary metabolies as leads in drug development. Drug Disc. Today 3: 232–238.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO (1988) The current state of biological diversity. In: Wilson EO (ed) Biodiversity (pp. 3–18). National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfender JL, Rodriguez S & Hostettmann K (1998) Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the screening of plant constituents. J. Chromatogr. A 794: 299–316.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., Chicago, IL, 60612, U.S.A

    Geoffrey A. Cordell

Authors
  1. Geoffrey A. Cordell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cordell, G.A. Natural products in drug discovery – Creating a new vision. Phytochemistry Reviews 1, 261–273 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026094701495

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026094701495

Search

Navigation