National List of Essential Medicines 2011: A Medicinal Chemistry Perspective
Ranganathan Balasubramanian, Hiba Iqbal, Sreerag Gopi · International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review and Research · 2014
The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2011 represents the third instalment of a continuously evolving document that will immensely benefit healthcare delivery institutions, health insurance bodies, medicine price control bodies, health economists and other relevant healthcare stakeholders in the country. It was painstakingly put together using two important national reference documents viz. Indian Pharmacopeia 2010 and the National Formulary of India 2010. If followed in letter and spirit, the list shall enable the rational use of medicines through better prescribing practices. It serves as a reference for assessing the healthcare access of the population with the solo aim of improving the health outcomes. More significantly, it is supposed to be a handy tool for public education and training of healthcare providers. The philosophy behind our study lies in viewing NLEM 2011 precisely as an educational tool. Consequently this work presents our efforts in adding value to the document via a medicinal chemistry perspective that includes classic approaches like chemically classifying the drug substances, analyzing their drug- and lead-likeness as well as exploring the possibility of orally administering them.