The inspiration provided by biologically active natural products to conceive of hybrids, congeners, analogs and unnatural variants is discussed by experts in the field in 16 highly informative chapters.

Using well-documented studies over the past decade, this timely monograph demonstrates the current importance and future potential of natural products as starting points for the development of new drugs with improved properties over their progenitors.

The examples are chosen so as to represent a wide range of natural products with therapeutic relevance among others, as anticancer agents, antimicrobials, antifungals, antisense nucleosides, antidiabetics, and analgesics.

From the content:

Part I: Natural Products as Sources of Potential Drugs and Systematic Compound Collections

Part II: From Marketed Drugs to Designed Analogs and Clinical Candidates

Part III: Natural Products as an Incentive for Enabling Technologies

Part IV: Natural Products as Pharmacological Tools

Part V: Nature: The Provider, the Enticer, and the Healer