Natural products or natural product derived drugs comprised 32% of small molecule approved drugs between 1981 and 2010.In the same period of time,16% of small molecule approved drugs were synthetic or natural mimics based on the study of pharmacophores related to natural products.Indisputably,natural products provide diverse structural diversity and intricate carboskeletal frameworks.As it is believed that nature has evolved optimized biologically active compounds-the secondary metabolites-to ensure survival of the species that produce them,natural products are perceived by some to be more′drug-like′than totally synthetic compounds.As such,natural products may provide us with the′best′lead compounds yet for drug discovery,giving rise to natural product inspired drug design.This talk will provide an overview of some of my research in this area.Specifically,I will outline the challenges and some of the lessons learnt in this quest to develop natural products as leads to potential drugs.
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