Natural Products as Source of Molecules with Therapeutic Potential - Research & Development, Challenges and Perspectives

This book addresses the highly relevant and complex subject of research on drugs from natural products, discussing the current hot topics in the field. It also provides a detailed overview of the strategies used to research and develop these drugs.
Respected experts explore issues involved in the production chain and when looking for new medicinal agents, including aspects such as therapeutic potential, functional foods, ethnopharmacology, metabolomics, virtual screening and regulatory scenarios.
Further, the book describes strategic methods of isolation and characterization of active principles, biological assays, biotechnology of plants, synthesis, clinical trials and the use of tools to identity active principles.


Valdir Cechinel Filho is a Professor/researcher at the Postgraduate Program (M/D) in Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Vale do Itajaí (UNIVALI) in Santa Catarina, Brazil. He has experienced in the field of Organic Chemistry, focusing on the following topics: bioactive natural products, synthesis of molecules of biological interest, and investigation of the relationship between chemical structure and biological activity. Editor of six books, over twenty contributed chapters and over 300 papers and reviews, besides 12 patents. In 2017, he received the highest Commendation of Academic Merit of the Council of Rectors of Brazilian Universities (CRUB) for his contribution to the Brazilian Higher Education. In March 2018, he became President of the Foundation UNIVALI and Rector of UNIVALI, with a mandate to head the institution until 2022.