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.
Technetium (99mTc) medronic acid Technetium (99mTc) medronic acid Technetium (Tc) medronic acid (MDP) is a pharmaceutical product used in nuclear medicine to localize bone metastases as well as other diseases that can alter the natural turn-over in the bone by bone scintigraphy. The drug is a complex of medronic acid, the simplest bisphosphonate, with technetium-99m (Tc), a radionuclide that emits gamma rays. The exact structure of the complex is not known. Tc-MDP must be prepared in a radiopharmacy. It is usually supplied as a "cold kit" to which radioactive Tc from a generator is added. Kit composition may vary between suppliers, but contents typically