The medical potential of natural products

Natural products and their derivatives are well established in clinical res earch and for medical applications. There are excellent drugs available fro m various plants and microorganisms. Recent developments in the different s creening techniques have accelerated the discovery of new compounds. Furthe rmore,the investigation of compounds of marine origin, which have been more difficult to obtain, has become possible. With the help of combinatorial m ethods, natural products can be modified to optimize their use for medical applications. Due to the enormous medical potential, modern research on nat ural products will also be important in the next century.