Drug Discovery A History

The process of discovery of medicinal compounds has evolved over millennia, from Neanderthal man's use of medicinal herbs to the highly-evolved techniques of biotechnology and high-throughput screening used by today's medicinal chemists. Drug Discovery - A History reviews the full panoply of discovery of therapeutic compounds in use today. The book is divided into three parts. The first, the Legacy of the Past, gives an overview of medicinal compounds in society, ranging from the earliest use of medicinal herbs through the ancient civilisations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, concluding with an overview of development of life-saving organic compounds in the 20th century. The second part examines the commonest source of the drug - the natural world. Prototypes from vegetable, animal, and microbial sources are described in separate chapters, as are the medicinal compounds prepared from them. The problem of relying on nature as a source of drug prototypes is confronted. Part Three considers synthetic compounds that have served as drug prototypes, the role of serendipity in providing these synthetic prototypes, and a review of compounds derived from them. Drug Discovery - A History is essential reading for medicinal chemists, pharmacologists, organic chemists, physicians, researchers and anyone with an interest in the development of therapeutic drugs.Sneader, Walter is the author of 'Drug Discovery A History' with ISBN 9780471899808 and ISBN 0471899801.