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Review
. 2014 Feb 17;12(2):1066-101.
doi: 10.3390/md12021066.

Marketed marine natural products in the pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical industries: tips for success

Ana Martins  1 , Helena Vieira  2 , Helena Gaspar  3 , Susana Santos  4
Affiliations
Review

Marketed marine natural products in the pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical industries: tips for success

Ana Martins et al. Mar Drugs. .

Abstract

The marine environment harbors a number of macro and micro organisms that have developed unique metabolic abilities to ensure their survival in diverse and hostile habitats, resulting in the biosynthesis of an array of secondary metabolites with specific activities. Several of these metabolites are high-value commercial products for the pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical industries. The aim of this review is to outline the paths of marine natural products discovery and development, with a special focus on the compounds that successfully reached the market and particularly looking at the approaches tackled by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies that succeeded in marketing those products. The main challenges faced during marine bioactives discovery and development programs were analyzed and grouped in three categories: biodiversity (accessibility to marine resources and efficient screening), supply and technical (sustainable production of the bioactives and knowledge of the mechanism of action) and market (processes, costs, partnerships and marketing). Tips to surpass these challenges are given in order to improve the market entry success rates of highly promising marine bioactives in the current pipelines, highlighting what can be learned from the successful and unsuccessful stories that can be applied to novel and/or ongoing marine natural products discovery and development programs.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of marine drugs on the market divided by therapeutic area.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures of oligosaccharide 1, oligosaccharide 2 and of pseudopterosins.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Marine Natural Products: from bioprospecting to market, highlighting biodiversity, supply and technical and market challenges faced during the process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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