PHARMACEUTICAL PROSPECTING AND THE POTENTIAL FOR PHARMACEUTICAL CROPS, NATURAL PRODUCT DRUG DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT AT THE UNITED-STATES NATIONAL-CANCER-INSTITUTE

Chemically-complex natural product drugs are not readily synthesized, and large-scale production for clinical and commercial development oft en involves isolation from the natural source. The rapidly escalating demand for taxol, originally isolated from the bark of Taxus brevifoli a, has emphasized the need for alternative sources to the wild plant, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has developed policies for exp loring such sources at the early stages of preclinical development of potential new drugs. The potential for pharmaceutical crop development in the case of several possible anti-AIDS agents will be discussed.