The role of natural products in modern drug discovery.

Abstract: The global medicine market is about 1.1 trillion US dollars. About 35 percent of medicines have originated from natural products. Brazil presents the largest biodiversity in the world, with more than 50,000 species of higher plants. However, few innovative products have been developed in Brazil from active constituents derived from the Brazilian biodiversity. Scientific evidences on plants and venoms have been internationally published by Brazilian scientists over the last 4 decades; but few examples of innovative products are commercially available. Few examples include the anti-hypertensive drug captopril first identified in the venom of the Brazilian viper Bothrops jararaca by Professor Sergio Ferreira; and some phytotherapeutic agents such as Acheflan®, Syntocalmy® and Melagrião® produced by standardized plant extracts with scientific proof of safety, efficacy and quality. Still, only Acheflan® and Melagrião® are obtained from native Brazilian plants. Several issues contribute to the lack of innovative products from the Brazilian biodiversity, but in my opinion, the most challenging ones are i) the lack of specific regulations to allow researchers and companies to access biodiversity for the purposes of scientific and technological innovation; and ii) the absence of a long-term government program to support research and innovation in this field.

摘要：全球医药市场规模约达1.1万亿美元，其中约35%的药物源自天然产物。巴西拥有全球最丰富的生物多样性，高等植物物种数量超过5万种。然而，巴西基于本国生物多样性活性成分开发的创新产品却极为稀少。近40年来，巴西科学家已就植物与蛇毒相关研究发表了诸多国际认可的学术成果，但实现商业化的创新产品寥寥无几。其中颇具代表性的案例包括：由塞尔吉奥·费雷拉教授从巴西矛头蝮（Bothrops jararaca）蛇毒中首次鉴定得到的抗高血压药物卡托普利（captopril），以及依托经安全性、有效性与质量科学验证的标准化植物提取物制备的植物治疗剂，如Acheflan®、Syntocalmy®与Melagrião®。不过，上述产品中仅Acheflan®与Melagrião®源自巴西本土植物。造成巴西生物多样性相关创新产品匮乏的因素众多，但笔者认为最具挑战性的两点为：其一，缺乏允许科研人员与企业为科技创新目的获取生物多样性的专门法规；其二，缺少支持该领域研究与创新的长期政府扶持规划。