 |
|
Nature's Agents Help Heal Humans— Some Now Take Steps to Reciprocate
Charles Marwick
JAMA. 1998;279:1679-1681.
|
|
| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings. |
|
|
|
FROM EARLIEST recorded time animals, plants, sea life, and microbes have been known as sources of drugs beneficial to human health. They still are. But human modification of ecosystems and the resulting loss of species diversity threaten these resources.
Therapeutically useful agents have recently been developed from natural sources:
- An antiplatelet drug based on a snake venom that is shortly to become available to physicians;
- A compound derived from the venom of a sea snail that is currently in extended clinical trials as an agent for the relief of chronic pain;
- An alkaloid secreted in the skin of frogs that is in early clinical trials as another analgesic.
These are just 3 examples. "Of 520 new chemical entities approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or other nations' drug regulatory agencies over the past 14 years for treating diseases, from athlete's foot to zoonoses, almost 50% have . . . [Full Text of this Article]
|
