The Marine Pharmacology and Pharmaceuticals Pipeline in 2020

Abstract

The ocean’s organisms continue to deliver a chemical biodiversity that contributes to both the global preclinical and clinical pharmaceutical pipelines. Thus, in November 2019, the clinical marine pharmaceutical pipeline consisted of 9 approved marine‐derived drugs: for Herpes Simplex Virus, vidarabine (Vira‐A®, FDA‐approved 1976); for pain, ziconotide (Prialt®, FDA‐approved 2004); for hypertriglyceridemia, omega‐3‐acid ethyl esters (Lovaza®, FDA‐approved 2004); and for cancer, cytarabine (Cytosar‐U®, Depocyt®, FDA‐approved 1969);, eribulin mesylate (Halaven®, FDA‐approved 2010), brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris®, FDA‐approved 2011), trabectedin (Yondelis®, EU approved 2008, FDA‐approved 2015), plitidepsin (Aplidine®) approved in Australia in 2018 and polatuzumab vedotin (POLIVY®, FDA‐approved 2019). The website www.clinicaltrials.gov was researched for marine‐derived compounds in Phase I, Phase II and Phase III: Our research determined that there were 31 marine‐derived compounds in active clinical trials: 5 marine‐derived compounds were in Phase III, 13 compounds in Phase II, and at least 9 compounds in Phase I, several auristatin‐containing antibody drug conjugates or ADCs. Regular updates on the clinical marine pharmaceutical pipeline are posted on: https://www.midwestern.edu/departments/marinepharmacology.xmlFurthermore, it is important to note that the global preclinical marine pharmacology pipeline continues to generate considerable data on multiple pharmacological classes. We thus conclude that in November 2019, both the marine pharmacology preclinical and clinical pharmaceutical pipelines remained very active.Support or Funding InformationCollege of Pharmacy, Vicki Sears, Pharmacology Department, College of Graduate Studies and Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, Midwestern University