Secondary Metabolites and Drug Discovery

This book explores the promising potential of plant and microbe-derived compounds in drug discovery, offering insights into safer alternatives to synthetic drugs and highlighting the vital role of natural products in treating diseases with fewer side effects. Plants and microbes are a promising source for natural products with the potential to play a major role in drug discovery. Due to advances in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and medicine, the commercial pharmaceutical industry is growing across the globe. Currently, allopathy uses synthetic pharmaceutical drugs for the treatment of diseases, but this practice also exposes patients to significant side effects. Since ancient times, other systems of medicine have been developed that utilize plant-based extracts and molecules to treat various diseases with fewer side effects. While changes in lifestyle, including diet, have had a significant impact on the increased risks of various diseases, there is substantial scientific evidence, both epidemiological and experimental, that vegetables and fruits are key features of diets associated with lower risks of diseases such as cancers and infections. These efforts to identify and create medications from plants are leading to increased manufacturing for larger clinical trials. The continuing scientific research of medicinal plants will undoubtedly provide a wealth of novel, structurally varied, bioactive chemicals. This edited volume provides an overview of various medical systems, with a special focus on microbial and plant-based drug molecules for treating communicable and non-communicable diseases, making it an invaluable resource for researchers, scientists, and practitioners interested in the potential of plant- and microbe-derived secondary metabolites in the ongoing search for innovative, effective, and safer medicines. Readers will find this book: Provides an overview of different types of sources and drug molecules used in allopathic, homeopathic, ayurvedic, Chinese, and Unani systems of medicine;Highlights past and current methods of alternative, complementary, folklore, and integrative medicines;Discusses the benefits and side effects of the drug molecules used in different systems of medicine at the global level;Explores microbial and plant-based drug molecules for treating various communicable and non-communicable diseases. Audience Researchers, academics, industry, and governmental experts working in the fields of natural science, natural products, synthetic chemistry, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry.