US EPA

1348720 

Journal Article 

Where is the hope for drug discovery? Let history tell the future 

Kong, DeXin; Li, XueJ; Zhang, HYu 

2009 

Yes 

Drug Discovery Today
ISSN: 1359-6446
EISSN: 1878-5832 

14 

3-4 

115-119 

18687410 

10.1016/j.drudis.2008.07.002 

WOS:000263638400002 

For drug discovery, historical experience is always of
significance. Through examining the history of traditional medicines, we find that these
medicines have more implications for drug discovery than just providing new chemical entities.
The history of traditional medicines indicates that they depended more on the combination of
natural agents than on screening new agents to find new remedies. This phenomenon suggests that
shifting the current drug discovery paradigm from 'finding new-entity drugs' to 'combining
existing agents' may be helpful for overcoming the 'more investment, fewer drugs' challenge.
We show that clues to finding antidementia combinatorial drugs can be derived from traditional
medicine formulae. It seems that to create a brighter future of drug discovery, we would better
go back to history.