Cure for cancer and other diseases may be at the bottom of the sea

“The more we look, the more we find,” says Marcel Jaspars, from the University of Aberdeen, in Scotland.

In 1928, scientist Alexander Fleming discovered a fungus that produced a substance that killed bacteria, penicillin. Since then, scientists have continued to find molecules with healing power in plants, animals, insects and microbes. All on the earth's surface. But the oceans may have much more to offer

“The vast majority of antibiotics and cancer medications come from natural sources,” recalls William Fenical, professor at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in California.

This 81-year-old pioneer began investigating marine molecules in 1973, at a time full of skepticism about the possibility of finding valuable products at the bottom of the sea.

But in the 1980s he and his team found a soft coral on the islands of the Bahamas that produced an anti-inflammatory molecule. Later, it would be used in cosmetic products from the Estée Lauder brand.

In 1991, also in the Bahamas, researchers identified an unknown bacteria, Salinispora, which gave rise to two cancer drugs, currently in the final phase of clinical trials.

Natural remedies

Since 1969, 17 medicines of marine origin have been authorized for the treatment of diseases. In addition, about 40 are in clinical trials, according to the Marine Drug Pipeline website.

According to experts, this low number is explained by the enormous cost of the tests – sometimes exceeding 1 billion dollars (5,2 billion reais) -, which favors the development of more expensive medicines.

Most of these drugs help treat cancer, but there is also an antiviral against herpes that came from a sea sponge and a painkiller from a snail.

The molecule for the next antibiotic or treatment for HIV could be hidden in a creature at the bottom of the ocean. Unless it is already in our possession, in the vast libraries of molecules that remain to be tested.

(Source: AFP)

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