To further develop different research aspects and improve clarity and accessibility for readers, under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Dr. Jean Jacques Vanden Eynde, Drugs and Drug Candidates (DDC, ISSN: 2813-2998) has established two new Sections:

• “Drug Candidates from Natural Sources”;
• “Biologics”.

Section “Drug Candidates from Natural Sources”
Natural resources have been used for their healing properties and as pharmaceutical raw materials in several traditional medicine systems for years. They have shown different biological activities through the active metabolites they contain. Today, many compounds of natural origin and their derivatives are used as drugs or form a model to synthesize new compounds in drug design research. The scrutinization of plants, animals, and marine organisms continues at full speed to develop innovative and safe drug candidate molecules for various ailments. Numerous natural resources are still waiting to be studied regarding their medicinal properties. This Section welcomes recent research and review articles focused on the biological activities of plant-, animal-, and marine-based natural compounds or extracts. The topics include, but are not limited to, in vitro and in vivo activity studies, in silico screening, activity-guided fractionation, isolation, and identification of natural compounds.

Keywords: natural products; activity-guided fractionation; marine organisms; herbal extracts; animal-based compounds; preliminary screening; medicinal plants

Section “Biologics”
Biologics, or biopharmaceuticals, can be defined as drugs derived from biological sources. Engineered proteins and glycoproteins have been prominent in this field since the introduction of human insulin encoded in recombinant DNA in 1982. Biologics now include hundreds of monoclonal antibodies (some vectors for conjugated drugs), hormones, interferons and other immune regulators, bifunctional fusion proteins, blood coagulation factors, and therapeutic enzymes, such as thrombolytic agents. Further, drugs based on nucleic acids and polysaccharides are being developed. Specific challenges are related to the design, production, and clinical evaluation of biologics. Potential hurdles in this research field include antigenicity and rapid in vivo clearance of biologics. DDC invites the submission of manuscripts for its novel Section “Biologics”.

Keywords: biologics; monoclonal antibodies; fusion proteins; interleukin; interferon; growth factor; therapeutic hormone; therapeutic enzyme; therapeutic fusion protein; drug derived from nucleic acids; therapeutic polysaccharides

We are currently recruiting Editorial Board Members (EBMs) and Guest Editors for these Sections. If you are an active researcher in this field and are passionate about publishing cutting-edge research, please contact us at ddc@mdpi.com. Alternatively, you may wish to submit your work directly via the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ddc.

Drugs and Drug Candidates Editorial Office