Drug Discovery in Africa: Impacts of Genomics, Natural Products, Traditional Medicines, Insights into Medicinal Chemistry, and Technology Platforms in Pursuit of New Drugs

Drug discovery originating in Africa has the potential to provide significantly improved treatment of endemic diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. This book critically reviews the current status of drug discovery research and development in Africa, for diseases that are a major threat to the health of people living in Africa. Compiled by leading African and international experts, this book presents the science and strategies of modern drug discovery. It explores how the use of natural products and traditional medicines can benefit from conventional drug discovery approaches, and proposes solutions to current technological, infrastructural, human resources, and economic challenges, which are presented when attempting to engage in full-scale drug discovery. Topics addressed are varied; from African medicinal plants to marine bioprospecting, pharmacogenetics and the use of nanotechnology. This book brings together for the first time a collection of strategies and techniques that need to be considered when developing drugs in an African setting. It is an unprecedented and truly international effort, highlighting the remarkable effort made so far in the area of drug discovery research by African scientists, and scientists from other parts of the world working on African health problems. Overview of Current Drug Discovery Activities in Africa and Their Links to International Efforts to Combat Tropical Infectious Diseases.- The National Cancer Institute and Natural Product Based Drug Discovery in Africa.- Tuberculosis Drug Discovery: Target Identification and Validation.- Targeting Conserved Pathways as a Strategy for Novel Drug Development: Disabling the Cellular Stress Response.- Natural Product-Based Drug Discovery in Africa: The Need for Integration into Modern Drug-Discovery Paradigms.- Searching for Drugs that Target Multiple Receptors for Anthelmintics from African Natural Products.- Application of in silico, in vitro and in vivo ADMET/PK Platforms in Drug Discovery.- Marine Bioprospecting in Southern Africa.- Natural Products-Based Drug Discovery against Neglected Diseases with Special Reference to African Natural Resources.- 'Now I heal with pride' - The Application of Screens-to-Nature (STN) Technology to Indigenous Knowledge Systems Research in Botswana: Implications for Drug Discovery.- Innovative Approaches to Exploiting Traditional Medicines in Malaria.- Anticancer Drug Repositioning against Tropical Diseases: The Example of Methotrexate in the Treatment of Malaria.- Tackling the Problem of Antimalarial Resistance.- Random and Rational Approaches to HIV Drug Discovery in Africa.- Structure-Based Design of Domain-Selective Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors.- Natural Products and Antimalarial Drugs. Will Africa Provide the Next Major Breakthrough?.- Nanomedicine in the Development of Drugs for Poverty Related Diseases.