Cancer is a major public health problem. Statistics for cancer in India revealed that one in every 12 women and one in every 12 men up to 64 years of age are expected to get some form of cancer in their lifetimes. Cancer incidence in India is rising steadily with 800,000 new cases predicted in 2001.The WHO estimates that 6 million people worldwide die annually from cancer. Cancer incidence in Indian men is about half to one third of the incidence recorded in USA and Europe. Incidence rates in Indian women are about half of that experience of USA and European women. The estimated number of new cancer cases for year 1992 was 644,600 and during the year 2001, which was about 806,000 cases. Now the survival rate of cancer is increasing steadily. By the 1930s, only one out of five cancer patients survived five or more years after treatment and were considered cured. Now the survival rate has improved and fiveyear survival from all cancer is almost 62% and excluding lung cancer it is 69%.

An antimicrobial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microbes such as bacteria, fungi, or viruses. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes (microbicidal) or prevent the growth of microbes (microbiostatic). The discovery of antimicrobials like penicillin and tetracycline paved the way for better health for millions around the world. Before 1941, the year penicillin was discovered; no true cure for gonorrhea, strep throat, or pneumonia existed. Patients with infected wounds often had to have a wounded limb removed, or face death from infection. This book focuses on insights of novel compounds and their antimicrobial activity by disc diffusion technique and can be utilized for research oriented studies and further developments in such drug discovery process.