Drug Development Using Natural Toxins

Dear Colleagues,

Natural toxins are poisonous substances produced by bacteria, insects, animals, or plants. They cause pain, disease, and even death to victims, but they also provide humans with a rich resource for new drugs for a variety of targets, from pain to lethal diseases.

Toxins have long been used to treat diseases globally, but they have not been studied enough as a drug candidate. Bee venom, one of the most widely used toxins used for therapeutic purposes, still applies to efficacy and safety as a remedy for many diseases. It is at the beginning stage of drug development studies, with other poisons such as those from snake, scorpion, and toad venoms. Toxic medicinal plants, which have been used in traditional medicine for a long time, are highly valuable in drug development as well as in treating various diseases.

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive view of natural toxins having therapeutic potential. We hope that researchers will share their valuable studies using natural toxins for drug development.

Prof. Dr. Gihyun Lee
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.