An overview of the marine natural products in clinical trials and on the market

The first marine natural products that served as leads or scaffolds for medicines were discovered in the middle of last century: the arabinosyl glycosides from the marine sponge Tectitethya crypta. Synthesis and modifications of the natural molecules generated antiviral and antileukemic drugs developed in the 1970’s and in the following decades, including the first effective treatment against HIV infection. With the improvement of techniques for the elucidation of chemical structure of the molecules, as well as chemical synthesis, especially from the 1990’s, there was an increase in the number of bioactive natural products characterized from marine organisms. New chemical structures with high specificity towards molecular targets in cells allowed the development of new drugs with indication for the treatment of several illnesses, from cancer to new antibiotics, and even neurological disorders. Currently there are at least 13 molecules derived from marine natural products on advanced clinical trials, and nine were approved to be used as medicines. Considering that in the past eight years, more than 1000 new compounds from marine organisms were described, per year, the expectation is that many more drugs will be derived from marine natural products in a near future.