Natural product to modern discovery of their active ingredients and eventually to the development of new drugs. A large number of currently prescribed drugs have been either directly derived from or inspired by natural products. A few representative examples are listed below. Some of the oldest natural product based drugs are analgesics. The bark of the willow tree has been known from antiquity to have pain relieving properties. This is due to presence of the natural product salicin which in turn may be hydrolyzed into salicylic acid. A synthetic derivative acetylsalicylic acid better known as aspirin is a widely used pain reliever.
Aminohippuric acid was given along with penicillin in order to prolong the time penicillin circulated in the blood. Because both penicillin and "para"-aminohippurate compete for the same transporter in the kidney, administering "para"-aminohippurate with penicillin decreased the clearance of penicillin from the body by the kidney, providing better antibacterial therapy. Transporters found in the kidney eliminate organic anions and cations from the blood by moving substances, in this case, drug metabolites, from blood into urine. In vultures, the NSAID diclofenac, which is extraordinarily toxic to vultures, interferes with the renal transport of uric acid via the PAH channel. p"K" = 3.83 Aminohippuric