Phytochemicals as Lead Compounds for New Drug Discovery

Book excerpt: Phytochemicals as Lead Compounds for New Drug Discovery presents complete coverage of the recent advances in the discovery of phytochemicals from medicinal plants as models to the development of new drugs and chemical entities. Functional bioactive compounds of plant origin have been an invaluable source for many human therapeutic drugs and have played a major role in the treatment of diseases around the world. These compounds possess enormous structural and chemical diversity and have led to many important discoveries. This book presents fundament concepts and factors affecting the choice for plant-based products, as well as recent advances in computer-aided drug discovery and FDA drug candidacy acceptance criteria. It also details the various bioactive lead compounds and molecular targets for a range of life-threatening diseases including cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases. Written by a global team of experts, Phytochemicals as Lead Compounds for New Drug Discovery is an ideal resource for drug developers, phytochemists, plant biochemists, food and medicinal chemists, nutritionists and toxicologists, chemical ecologists, taxonomists, analytical chemists, and other researchers in those fields. It will also be very valuable to professors, students, and researchers in this domain. - Presents fundamental concepts and factors affecting choice for plant-based products - Details the FDA drug candidacy acceptance criteria, including bottlenecks and way forward - Highlights recent advances in computational-based drug discovery - Focuses on the discovery of new drugs and potential druggable targets for the treatment of chronic diseases of world importance