Summary: Cancer is the 2nd main reason for global death and is a life-threatening illness. There is the risk of drug-resistant malignancies rising, so require urgent demand to improve more effective anticancer agents regarding safety, efficacy, and toxicity. Hence, discovering anticancer agents from medicinal plants is the best option for researchers. The discovery of target compounds is a multidisciplinary approach, starting from basic research to regulatory approvals. Materials and methods: Related information was searched from Medline, Scopus, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, and other official portals using discovery OR bioassay OR Clinical trials as keywords. Results and discussion: This review represents the journey of bioactive compounds from drug discovery to market-ready treatments. Several approaches can be employed for drug discovery, such as molecular docking, pharmacophore modelling, and other computational methods. The identified lead compounds are then isolated and extracted through traditional and modern methods. A few analytical techniques can be employed to characterize target compounds after isolation. Further, bioassays and animal model testing are done to give a sound basis for clinical research. The clinical trial phase examines the drug candidate in humans, and after that, regulatory bodies review the data and decide whether the drug should be approved in the market. Conclusion: It is quite difficult to discover novel remedies in practice. However, the discovery of anticancer plants offers hope for effective and safer cancer treatments.
Key words: Cancer, Herbal plants, Bioassay, Cell lines, Xenograft models, Clinical trials.
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