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Another important contribution of academia to drug discovery is providing specific expert knowledge on particular research areas and techniques. This knowledge, acquired within the academic group of a professor throughout his complete academic career, may represent the long‐sought solution to a specific problem that hampers progression of a compound to the market or prevents it from moving into clinical trials. This can be of particular value in the field of natural product research, as structural complexity is tremendous and compounds isolated from plants, bacteria, or marine organisms represent a rich source of potential drugs. However specific skills, e.g. in isolation, structure elucidation, and synthesis, can be required to identify the active compounds and make them accessible for further exploration.

The screening of natural products for bioactivities led to a multitude of starting points for chemical optimization to clinical candidates or even directly to live‐saving medications [26]. Several important examples discovered by academic groups are shown in Figure 1.5.