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Bioprospecting for drugs

Nature volume 393, page 301 (1998)Cite this article

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Sir

In an article on bioprospecting1, one of us (D. N.) was quoted to the effect that “only one sample in 250,000 will directly yield a commercial drug, although many more samples may serve as useful leads for modification through combinatorial chemistry”. It was not made clear that this estimate is based on data from the antibiotics industry2,3 and refers specifically to drug discovery from microbial sources. These data should not be translated directly to other natural sources, such as plants and marine organisms.

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References

  1. Macilwain, C. Nature 392, 535–540 (1998).

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  2. Omura, S. in The Future of Antibiotherapy and Antibiotics Research (eds Bost, P. E. et al.) 389-405 (Academic, New York, 1981).

  3. Rake, J. B. et al. J. Antibiotics 39, 58–67 (1986).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, Natural Products Branch, National Cancer Institute, PO Box B, Frederick, 21702-1201, Maryland, USA

    Gordon M. Cragg, David J. Newman & Stringner Sue Yang

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  1. Gordon M. Cragg
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  2. David J. Newman
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  3. Stringner Sue Yang
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Cragg, G., Newman, D. & Yang, S. Bioprospecting for drugs. Nature 393, 301 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/30586

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