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The success story of plant-based medicine has been overlooked during the advent of the modern pharmaceutical industry. Despite the negligence of the multibillion-dollar drug industry, people entirely rely on medicinal plants in some parts of the world. In this study, we have emphasized going back to those traditional medicinal practices to determine their underlying mechanism to move forward on phytochemical-based drug development. We screened Medicinal Plant Database Bangladesh (MPDB2.0) to find traditionally used medicinal plants and their active compounds.Here, mangiferin, extracted from Mangifera indica, has interacted with cell cycle regulator Cyclin-dependent Kinase 4 (CDK4). CDK4 is differentially expressed during Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), Brain Lower Grade Glioma (LGG), and Sarcoma (SARC). Expression of CDK4 is interlinked to the patients’ survival rate and its consistent expression throughout different stages has provided the advantage to use it as a diagnostic tool and drug target.This study demonstrated that a simple mango tree extracted active compound ‘mangiferin’ may work as a potential anticancer drug, and leveraging the recent advancement of sequencing and gene expression data can accelerate the phytochemical-based drug discovery process.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) became a pandemic, resulting in an exponentially increased mortality globally and scientists all over the world are struggling to find suitable solutions to combat it. Multiple repurposed drugs have already been in several clinical trials or recently completed. However, none of them shows any promising effect in combating COVID-19. Therefore, developing an effective drug is an unmet global need. RdRp (RNA dependent RNA polymerase) plays a pivotal role in viral replication. Therefore, it is considered as a prime target of drugs that may treat COVID-19. In this study, we have screened a library of compounds, containing approved RdRp inhibitor drugs that were or in use to treat other viruses (favipiravir, sofosbuvir, ribavirin, lopinavir, tenofovir, ritonavir, galidesivir and remdesivir) and their structural analogues, in order to identify potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp. Extensive screening, molecular docking and molecular dynamics show that five structural analogues have notable inhibitory effects against RdRp of SARS-CoV-2. Importantly, comparative protein-antagonists interaction revealed that these compounds fit well in the pocket of RdRp. ADMET analysis of these compounds suggests their potency as drug candidates. Our identified compounds may serve as potential therapeutics for COVID-19.