This is a talking point I hear a lot that has little basis in fact. There are many active pharmaceutical ingredients that are natural products, modified natura

This is a talking point I hear a lot that has little basis in fact. There are many active pharmaceutical ingredients that are natural products, modified natural products, or analogues of natural products. See Metformin and French Lilac. In fact, a big part of what medicinal chemists do is designing “better” molecules. And some well capitalized pharma companies even come out and say their strategy is “best in class, not first in class”.