Medicinal chemistry in the development of societies - Biodiversity and natural products

This document has been elaborated by the IUPAC Medicinal Chemistry section and is backed by a large number of scientists, many of whom have had direct involvement and whose names appear at the end of the article. This work di scusses the role that the discovery of new medicinal agents has in the deve lopment of societies as well as in the conservation of biodiversity in term s of the work carried our on natural products. Also included are several re commendations fur countries which are presently in search of their own scie ntific and technological development in medicinal agents. The IUPAC Medicin al Chemistry section would appreciate the collaboration of the scientific s ocieties in every country to aid in the diffusion of this document. (C) 200 0 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.