A chalcone identified by in silico and in vitro assays possesses high larvicidal activity against Aedes aegypti

On the importance for drug discovery of a transnational Latin American database of natural compound structures

“…Significant constraints for the implementation of effective drug discovery programs in Latin America include relatively limited funding and failure to assemble coordinated transnational efforts. To date, scarce numbers of virtual screening projects in Latin America have led to the discovery of NP or NP-inspired compounds from isolation to proof-of-concept experimental activities of identified compounds ( Fernandes et al, 2019 ; Rodrigues et al, 2019 ; Belgamo et al, 2020 ; Fernandez et al, 2020 ; Battini et al, 2021 ; Ferreira et al, 2021 ; Vargas et al, 2021 ; Valera-Vera et al, 2022 ; Adessi et al, 2023 ; Almeida et al, 2023 ; Araujo et al, 2023 ; Llanos et al, 2023 ; Peralta-Moreno et al, 2023 ). With the increasing availability and accessibility of advanced virtual screening tools that facilitate many stages in drug discovery pipelines ( Daina and Zoete, 2019 ; Gentile et al, 2020 ; Ghislat et al, 2021 ; Singh et al, 2021 ; Arul Murugan et al, 2022 ; Blanes-Mira et al, 2022 ; Gorgulla et al, 2022 ; Muller et al, 2022 ; Sarkar et al, 2023 ; Thomas et al, 2023 ), which under conventional schemes are costly, labor intensive and time-consuming, a window of opportunity opens to change the tide towards NP-inspired drug discovery in less affluent economies.…”