A recent post on in-pharmatechnologist.com by Anthony King highlights the success of PharmaSea, a global project working to identify new marine microbial strands for potential new drug leads, antibiotics, and applicable nutritive or cosmetic ingredients. The project team has already begun collecting samples from the Irish sector of the Atlantic as well as the Arctic; and they have plans to expand to the mid-Atlantic ridge this summer.
According to the article, investigators in Belgium have discovered extracts that are incredibly active in analyses for epilepsy and central nervous system diseases. Additionally, partners in Norway have been testing extracts against assays for cancer and inflammation, and Spanish associates have been testing for antibacterial candidates. “The project has become successful enough to begin animal trials with one or two molecules,” according to Marcel Jaspars of the University of Aberdeen and leader of the project.
Jaspar’s hope is to bring nature back into the drug discovery process and that results from the project will lead to new drug like molecules developed by participating companies. To read the full article, click here.