9 Famous Examples of Drugs That Came From Plants
From Plant to Pill: The story of Aspirin, quinine, opiates, penicillin, digoxin, paclitaxel, vincristine, & LSD.
Do you know where your drugs come from?
Many of the drugs we use today came from plants originally. Reports range from 25% to 80% of all drugs on the market today were in some way derived from plant-based sources.
Phytochemicals (plant-derived compounds) are responsible for some of the most important medical advancements of our time.
Some examples include:
Antibiotics
Chemotherapy
Pain management
Psychedelics
Here are some of the most common drugs that were derived from or inspired by compounds found in plants.
1. Aspirin (Salicylic Acid)
I probably don’t need to explain what Aspirin is — it’s used by roughly 29 million people per day in the United States alone.
Aspirin is used for managing pain, inflammation, and fever and as a daily preventative for heart attacks.
It works by inhibiting an enzyme known as cyclooxygenase (COX).
The COX-1 enzyme converts arachidonic acid to thromboxanes and prostaglandins which are responsible for sustaining inflammation and blood clotting.
Acetylsalicylic acid (the chemical name for Aspirin) was first synthesized in 1890 by a man named Felix Hoffmann. He modeled it after the naturally occurring polyphenol called salicylic acid — which is found in a handful of plants, including Salix alba (white willow), Spirea spp. (wintergreens), and Betula spp. (birch).
All of these plants were used traditionally for conditions involving injury, pain, and inflammation.
The difference Aspirin has to its naturally occurring counterpart is the addition of an acetyl chemical group, which gives Aspirin its antifibrinolytic effects (blood-thinner) and improved bioavailability.
2. Quinine (Qualaquin)
Quinine is an anti-malaria and anti-babesiosis medication. It remains one of the primary treatments for dealing with malaria to this day where it’s sold under the brand name Quinalaquin or it’s generic name Quinine.
This compound is an alkaloid derived from the Cinchona calisaya tree from South America. It was a popular herb used by the local Quechua tribes of the Amazon rainforest.
The cinchona tree eventually caught the attention of the Jesuits who brought it to Europe.
Although the drug can be synthesized, the most economically viable method of production is to extract it from the cinchona tree.
Unfortunately, there are many side effects to this medication, including permanent kidney damage.
3. Opiates (Oxycontin, Morphine, Codeine)
Opiates are primarily used to regulate pain by activating the mu-, delta- or kappa-opioid receptors in brain and spinal cord. These receptors are also involved with temperature regulation, mood, and the dopamine-reward pathway.
Most opiates are classified as benzylisoquinoline alkaloids — many of which are naturally occurring in plants like the Opium poppy (Papaveraceae somniferum).
In 1874, a chemist named C.R Alder Wright synthesized an analog of morphine, which he called diamorphine — more commonly referred to as heroin.
For the first 23 years of this discovery, nothing happened.
It wasn’t until Felix Hoffmann (the creator of Aspirin), re-synthesized diamorphine which caught the attention of Bayer Pharmaceuticals. Bayer then commercialized the drug and sold it as a pain management drug.
Heroin has since been banned in most countries due to high addiction rates and drug abuse; however, opiates, in general, are still widely used in modern medicine.
Morphine, codeine, methadone, and fentanyl are all used to provide varying potencies of pain management and are either directly or indirectly derived from the alkaloids found in the opium poppy plant.
4. Myriocin
Myriocin (aka ISP-1 or thermozymocidin), is an antibiotic and immunosuppressant derived from the sterile (non-spore-producing) fungus Mycelia sterilia and entomopathogenic (bug-eating) fungus Isaria sinclairii.
Scientists modified myriocin to produce a compound known as fingolimod (compound FTY720), which is used to treat autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis.
5. Penicillin
Penicillin was the very first class of antibiotics ever discovered. It’s made from a mold known as Penicillium chrysogenum.
It was known for years that this mold was able to kill off bacteria, including Streptococcus and Staphylococcus strains that were responsible for substantial loss of human life around that time.
A Scottish scientist named Alexander Fleming finally isolated the active constituent in 1928.
Unfortunately, Alexander was a poor communicator and couldn’t attract any serious attention from the media or his peers on his finding. It wasn’t until 1940 that penicillin was mass-produced and incorporated into conventional medicine.
Although there are many penicillins, they’re all classified as beta-lactam antibiotics.
They work by blocking a key process during cell division (peptidoglycan cross-link formation), causing the cell to eject its insides, effectively killing the bacteria. This is most effective in gram-positive bacteria.
6. Digoxin
Digoxin is a heart medication used for managing heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias (such as atrial flutter or atrial fibrillation).
It was first isolated from the foxglove plant (Digitalis lanata) in 1930; however, the first mention of foxglove derivatives for cardiac-related conditions goes all the way back to 1785.
At the time, it was used to treat a condition known as dropsy, which is an accumulation of fluid under the skin, often as a result of chronic heart failure.
The use of digoxin changed how we treat cardiovascular disease for decades — but has since fallen out of favor due to some of its more dangerous side effects.
In fact, in 2003, a nurse named Charles Cullen killed 40 of his patients with overdoses of digoxin and other heart medications.
Digoxin works by inhibiting sodium, potassium, and ATP channels in the heart. This causes sodium levels to build up inside the cells, resulting in a dramatic increase in calcium. This heightened calcium allows stronger contraction of the heart, while expending less energy.
Digoxin also affects the vagus nerve, which is used to regulate the heart’s rhythm.
7. Paclitaxel (Taxol)
Paclitaxel is a chemotherapeutic agent derived from the bark of the Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia).
This medicine was very important in the 1960s for treating certain types of cancer (mainly breast, lung, and ovarian).
But there was one problem.
In order to extract the medicine, the tree has to be killed.
As demand for the drug increased, the drug became involved in a serious ecological controversy. The need for the medication was scrutinized in light of the extensive damage it was causing to yew populations in North America.
So researchers began seeking more sustainable ways to obtain this compound.
Today, paclitaxel is made using semisynthetic methods obtained from liquid plant cultures. Although the plant tissue is still needed to make the medicine, it poses no threat to wild yew populations because manufacturers now rely on sterile lab-grown cultures of the plant.
Paclitaxel works by inhibiting a compound called tubulin inside the cells.
Tubulin is needed during cell division. So by inhibiting this compound, paclitaxel can prevent cell division in the body.
Since cancer often involves rapidly dividing cells, the drug targets these rapidly dividing cells, thus slowing cancer growth.
Unfortunately, there is also a wide range of side effects, mostly as a result of the inhibition of rapidly dividing cells (hair-loss, stomach ulcers, nausea, and eczema).
8. Vincristine & Vinblastine
Vincristine and vinblastine are alkaloids taken from the Madagascar periwinkle plant (Catharanthus roseus).
Both are intravenous chemotherapeutic agents used for cancers like Hodgkin’s disease and neuroblastoma.
Vinblastine was isolated first in 1958, with vincristine following in 1961.
Similarly to paclitaxel, these alkaloids work by preventing cells from dividing by blocking tubulin. This has a marked effect on cancers, which are often characterized by how rapidly they divide.
As a result of this action, both drugs come with some pretty hefty side effects, including hair loss, constipation, nausea and vomiting, neutropenia (low white blood cells), and lung damage.
9. Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)
Lysergic acid (LSD) was created in 1938 by a man named Albert Hofmann while he was working for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland.
He created the compound along with a variety of others while he was searching for new drugs to treat uterine contractions during pregnancy.
LSD is derived from a naturally occurring alkaloid called ergotamine, found in the ergot fungus (Claviceps purpurea).
Hofmann created LSD in 1938 but didn’t identify its distinct hallucinogenic effect profile for another 5 years.
Soon after he discovered its surprising psychedelic effects, Sandoz began sending samples of the drug around the world to any researcher interested in studying its potential applications.
It was quickly picked up by the Harvard Psilocybin Project, which studied its applications in mental health therapy. It was also picked up by he CIA who tried to use it as a mind-control agent (unsuccessfully).
LSD works by stimulating various types of serotonin receptors (5HT2A and 5HT2B), as well as the dopamine D2 receptors in the brain.
Other Examples:
Acetyldigoxin (Digitalis lanata) — Cardiotonic
Acetylsalicylic Acid (Salix alba) — Pain and inflammation
Apomorphine (Papaver somniferum) — Pain Management
Bromelain (Ananas comosus) — Proteolytic
Caffeine (Camellia sinensis, Coffea arabica, Paullinia cupana, Ilex paraguariensis) — CNS Stimulant
Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora) — Rubefacient
Capsaicin (Capsicum annuum) — Pain Reliever
Cannabidiol (Cannabis sativa) — Cancer, Anxiety, Pain Management
Curcumin (Curcuma longa) — Anti Inflammatory
Digoxin (Digitalis lanata) — Cardiac arrythmia & heart failure
Dronabinol (Cannabis sativa) — Anorexia and nausea
Galantamine (Galanthus nivalis) — Alzheimer's Disease
Lapachol (Tabebuia impetiginosa) — Cancer
L-Dopa (Mucuna pruriens) — Anti-Parkinson’s Disease
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (Claviceps purpurea) — Recreation
Menthol (Mentha piperita) — Flavouring agent
Morphine (Papaveraceae somniferum) — Pain
Myriocin (Mycelia sterilia) — Multiple sclerosis & other autoimmune disease
Nitisinone (Callistemon citrinus) — Tyrosinemia
Paclitaxel (Taxus brevifolia) — Cancer
Quinidine (Cinchona ledgeriana) — Arrhythmias
Quinine (Cinchona ledgeriana) — Malaria
Psilocin (Psilocybe cubensis) — Depression
Steviosides (Stevia rebaudiana) — Diabetes
Tetrahydrocannabinol (Cannabis sativa) – Nausea, recreation
Tiotropium (Atropa belladonna) — COPD
Vinblastine (Catharanthus roseus) — Cancer
Vincristine (Catharanthus roseus) — Cancer
Vinpocetine (Vinca major) — Cognitive enhancement, stroke
Yohimbine (Pausinystalia yohimbe) — Cardiovascular disease
Further Reading
→ Bioprospecting: Sifting Through Nature's Medicine Cabinet (The Sunlight Experiment)