Drugs from the sea: hopes, reality, obstacles

Although life diversity on earth is great, oceans are the centre of global biodiversity, with 34 of the 36 phyla of life represented. The rich biodiversity of the marine environment represents an enormous resource for a wide array of interesting chemistry (biodiversity = chemical diversity). Ecological pressures, including competition for space, the fouling of the surface, predation and successfully reproducing have led to the evolution of unique secondary metabolites with various biological activities. The last thirty years have seen an explosive growth of natural products from marine organisms that have been characterised by the isolation of unusual structures with no precedent in terrestrial natural products. Many of these compounds have successfully advanced to the late stages of preclinical and clinical trials.