NATURE PHARMACY - SOURCE OF DRUGS IN THE XXI CENTURY
Oliver Callies · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · 2011
Nature has been a source of drugs since the beginning of the history and many cultures such as China and India still using it today. On the other hand, 50% of drugs currently used in Western medicine directly or indirectly derived from nature, such as Aspirin ® or Taxol ® . The path traveled by a substance from nature to become a new drug is long, cumbersome, and generally very expensive. The most important steps along this path are the natural source isolation, structural elucidation of isolated metabolites, essays in different biological systems, until reach the clinical phases and finally - if all goes well - the approval by FDA or EMEA. The emergence of new infectious diseases, intractable diseases and drug resistance threatens the effectiveness of drugs currently in use. Nature can provide new and more effective substances and maybe with fewer side effects to deal with current and future health threats.