A survey of 52 pharmaceutical industry and academic personnel involved in natural products (NP) drug discovery found a gap between NP drug discovery strategies and NP drug potential. Thirty-five respondents chose high-throughput screening (HTS) as the “top preferred current strategy.” However, it is not best suited for NP drug discovery, according to many respondents. For over 40% of both industry and academic respondents, “structural novelty and bioactivity” is the “top driver” for NP development. For 26%, 20% and 19% of industry respondents, the “top barriers” are “supply,” “structural complexity,” and “cost/funding/budget,” respectively. For academic respondents, 25% each chose “cost/funding/budget” and “supply” as the top barriers, and 23% chose “structural complexity.”

Sources: Frontiers in Pharmacology