Abel Pharmboy over at Terra Sigillata has a nice write up about Therapeutic Natural Products from the Sea. The ocean fauna is the potential host to several "sources of compounds that can be used as therapeutic agents." These include drugs to treat some cancers and leukemias. The better news is that most of these drugs, after originally being isolated from marine animals, are now derived synthetically removing the need to further harvest. It is really a win-win...win situation. Low impact to marine systems, cures for diseases, and one hell of reason to conserve ocean environments.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
In a post the other day, we noted that the semi-synthetic natural product, ixabepilone, approved for advanced breast cancer was derived from a soil bacterium. Colleague PharmCanuck reminded us that the soil is not a new source for drugs: the anthracyclines, daunorubicin and doxorubicin, are…
A couple of days ago I recommended a short information table that compared conventional small molecule drugs to biologics (antibody therapies and other peptides/proteins). It was quick and I recommended it for the average Terra Sig reader.
However, I was quick in writing the post, and should…
OK, so I'm a latecomer to blogging.
I was also more than a week late for my own birth.
The blogging spark for me was an Aug 1 2005 article in The Scientist by David Secko. That's where I first learned of Derek Lowe over at In The Pipeline...and GrrlScientist, Pharyngula, BotanicalGirl, and,…
I've stood at the periphery of the dichloroacetate (DCA) story mostly because my attention has been needed elsewhere as of late. However, I was very interested in the blogosphere attention given to the Cancer Cell paper from a group led by Dr Evangelos Michelakis at the University of Alberta in…