Felix Reichel's research while affiliated with Bayer HealthCare and other places

The potential of new natural products as an important source for the exploration and development of new drugs and crop protection products is a long way from being exhausted. The statistical analysis of the structures of the natural and synthetically derived compounds has shown conspicuous variations in structural types in the natural products derived from different natural sources, which can be utilized in the search for individual active substances. The occasionally voiced prepossession that natural products have already been sufficiently examined and therefore no more innovations are to be expected can definitely be rejected.

The role and importance of natural products and natural products research has often been the subject of discussion in recent years. Some companies have curtailed their efforts in this research area, for reasons of cost, lack of success, or to make way for such upcoming new technologies as combinatorial synthesis. We therefore initiated a study to address the question: Is there a future for natural products in industrial drug discovery programs?

Noch lange nicht erschöpft ist das Potential an neuen Naturstoffen als bedeutende Quelle für die Erforschung und Entwicklung neuer Arzneimittel sowie Pflanzenschutzprodukte. Wie aus statistischen Analysen der Strukturen natürlicher und synthetischer Verbindungen hervorgeht, ist die Strukturvarianz von Naturstoffen aus unterschiedlichen natürlichen Quellen auffällig und kann bei der Wirkstoffsuche individuell berücksichtigt werden. Das gelegentlich formulierte Vorurteil, Naturstoffe seien bereits breit untersucht und folglich seien keine Neuerungen mehr zu erwarten, läßt sich damit eindeutig entkräften.

The potential of new natural products as an important source for the exploration and development of new drugs and crop protection products is a long way from being exhausted. The statistical analysis of the structures of the natural and synthetically derived compounds has shown conspicuous variations in structural types in the natural products derived from different natural sources, which can be utilized in the search for individual active substances. The occasionally voiced prepossession that natural products have already been sufficiently examined and therefore no more innovations are to be expected can definitely be rejected.