Drugs From The Sea - finding new drugs in ocean - includes related article on cancer research

Another critter, called Bugula (the boat clinger), is also under cultivation. The organism grows in shallow water almost anywhere, yet only three known populations of Bugula actually make bryostatin 1, a potent drug that's involved in dozens of clinical trials as a treatment for everything from leukemia to kidney cancer. Bugula can grow in vats on land and in the ocean on wire mesh.

Despite the recent progress, no marine drug has reached the pharmacy shelf. That, however, is no surprise. It took more than two decades, from gathering crunched-up Pacific yew bark to FDA approval for treating breast and ovarian cancer, for taxol to make it to market. And Fenical is not discouraged. In fact, he is passionate about the possibilities: "If we need new drugs, where are we going to go? Space? No." He pauses and waves his hand expansively out the window toward the wide blue Pacific. "It's sitting right there, It's diverse as hell. And it's waiting for us."

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More than 30 drugs from the ocean are under pre-clinical investigation by drug companies, the National Cancer Institute, and various universities. Here are a few hopes for fighting cancer.

Didemnin B: Isolated from a Caribbean sea squirt, didemnin B was the first promising marine drug. But in Phase II clinical trials, which test for effectiveness, it proved too toxic, and its development was halted in 1995. Researchers are now trying to target the drug specifically to the blood vessels that supply tumors, in hopes of starving the growths and reducing the drug's overall toxicity.

Bryostatin 1: Isolated from the organism Bugula neritina and particularly potent against cancers of the blood, bryostatin 1 is being tested in conjunction with standard anticancer drugs in several dozen human trials in the United States.

Dolastatin 10: It was derived from an Indian Ocean mollusk, Dolabella auricularia, known as a sea hare. The drug has been chemically synthesized and shows promise as a skin cancer killer. It is entering Phase I clinical trials, which test for safety.

Ecteinascidin 743: This chemical comes from a sea whip, Ecteinascidia turbinata, which grows in mangrove swamps in the Caribbean. In lab studies it has been effective against mouse leukemias and human breast cancers. In the United States, it is in Phase I clinical trials, and the French have begun Phase II trials.

Semisynthetics: Several companies are trying to make new drugs by mixing enzymes from marine bacteria. Here's how: Organisms produce chemicals in several biosynthetic steps. By mixing up the genes involved in making enzymes--taking a gene from marine bacterium A, another from marine bacterium B--and inserting them into the lab bacterium E. coli, the end product is an enzyme subtly different from those that the parent bugs produce and, it's hoped, with more desirable properties.

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Aspirin: From a compound in the bark and leaves of the willow tree, used to treat fever and pain since at least the fifth century B.C. Created in stable chemical form in 1897.