Book excerpt: New Avenues in Drug Discovery and Bioactive Natural Products is the second volume of the Natural Medicine book series. It is devoted to current research in drug discovery from natural sources. The volume features 13 chapters that cover modern analytical and scientific approaches. The book starts with chapters on advanced analytical and research techniques, such as genomic mining, quality control of herbal drugs, DNA fingerprinting, high-throughput screening, molecular docking and extraction techniques. The contributors provide a summary of challenges for researchers and commercial applications where possible. The book also features chapters dedicated to specific medicinal agents that target a disease (glycosides, SARS-CoV2 spike protein inhibitors, and andrographolides. The collection of important research topics in natural product chemistry aims to help the scholars and researchers in the scientific community that are involved in the extraction and development of new medicines.