The Process of Drug Development from Natural Sources

The history of drug discovery and development is deeply knotted with human civilization. Early humans, driven by curiosity and the need for survival, closely observed nature. They not only identified plants for food and nutrition but also recognized those with medicinal, toxic, or harmful properties. For a long time, natural products have been the go-to for developing new medicines. There are a number of known methods for locating natural medications. Significant breakthroughs in medicinal research have come from natural ingredients, with much of the information about their medicinal characteristics coming from traditional and indigenous drugs. Because of the possibility of adverse reactions and other peculiarities, medicinal plants have inspired scientists to develop novel smaller molecules. This chapter places the significance of pharmacology within the context of contemporary methodologies utilized in the process of discovering and developing drugs. In addition, drug development methodologies, application of computational chemistry principles, and modern techniques utilized for structural elucidation are discussed.