Organic Synthesis as a Source of New Drugs
John H. Biel, Yvonne Connolly Martin · Advances in chemistry series · 1971
The identification of the infectious disease process by Pasteur, the subsequent formulation by Paul Ehrlich of the concepts of selective toxicity and rational drug design, and the coming of age of organic chemistry provided the imaginative impetus to the spectacular series of drug discoveries which ushered in the era of modern medicine. This paper reviews the evolutionary process of synthetic drug discovery, probes the circumstances that contributed to its success, and finally attempts to predict on the basis of current trends the future course synthetic drug research must take to remain a viable factor in the therapy of human disease.