Searching Drugs From Deep Seas !

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Plumbing the deep seas Marine scientists explore depths of the Indian Ocean to discover new drugs for treatment of major diseases and resources for human welfare, writes Ashok B Sharma http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=147967 Posted online: Monday, December 04, 2006 at 0041 hours IST Oceans are the endowment of wealth that can benefit humanity in many ways. The abundance of rich aquatic biodiversity and minerals are a source for

manufacture of many life-saving drugs. Deep-sea minerals like ferromanganese nodules for their copper, nickel and cobalt contents have immense potential for different industrial uses. Besides, oceans are the source for thermal energy and also have rich oil reserves beneath the seabed. India, with a 7,500 km-long coastline and surrounded by the Bay of Bengal on the east, the Arabian Sea on the west and the Indian Ocean in the south, could be a beneficiary of this vast untapped resource. Specifically the Indian Ocean, with an area of 73,246,500 sq km, is one-seventh of the Earth’s surface. But it is the smallest of the world’s oceans, ranking third after the Pacific and the Atlantic. However, barring recent progress in industrial aquaculture, very little efforts have been done in the country to explore wealth from the surrounding seas. A range of sophisticated marine instruments hold the key to understanding the oceans. In the developed countries, development of sophisticated marine equipment began about two decades ago. India has just joined the race. Marine instrumentation is a low-volume, high-cost industry that thrives on scientists and engineers working together to answer daring questions about oceans and its place in the earth system. Across the world, major advances were made in the early years of oceanography to design special purpose equipment. Recent advances made in areas like satellite technology, software, new materials, miniaturisation of sensors and semiconductors, etc, present an opportunity to

accelerate the development of ocean science. This is because technology is at the point where it can drive the science, thereby opening up possibilities not available earlier, says Elgar Desa of the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography. Indian researchers depend mostly on equipment imported from US, Japan, Norway, France and UK. However, Desa feels that India needs to develop novel sensors and instrumentation, new generation oceanographic platforms and submersible mining technology. In

India, there are a number of organisations, mainly in the public sector, which are proficient in development of marine instrumentation. The private sector has been shy in investment as the industry is characterised by low-volume and high-cost. In this context, Desa feels that marine instrumentation in the coming decade will be driven as much as by science as by advances in technology front in various areas. There is a need for synergy in deployment of technology developed for other areas in ocean exploration. According to CM Gupta of the Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute, the potential of marine organisms as a new source of novel medicines was first realised in late 1960s, after the discovery of the presence of prostaglandins in soft corals. Subsequently, several international agencies, including some major pharma houses, launched highly organised efforts to isolate new drugs from marine flora and fauna for treatment of some major human disease. Around the world, hundreds of bioactive molecules exhibiting strong activities against diseases like HIV, malaria, staphylococcal, fungal infections, cancers including solid tumours, asthama, atherosclerosis, epilepsy, oesteoarthritis and inflammation, have been isolated and some of

these are at the advanced stage of new drug development. Close to dozen molecules have reached Phase I and Phase II of clinical evaluation. And, 50 molecules are still under pre-clinical stage. However, majority of molecules at pre-clinical stage have shown high promise in the treatment of cancer. Out of 13 drugs that are under clinical evaluation, as many as eight are being developed as new anti-cancer drugs and the remaining fivemolecules are being explored for their possible use in the treatment of

epilepsy, thrombosis, severe chronic pains, asthma and chronic wounds. Interestingly, amongst various bioactive substances derived from marine sources, at least 13 potential anti-cancer agents and one anti-fungal agent have been isolated by various global agencies from the marine organisations found in the Indian Ocean. Most of these, with the exception of two, are at re-clinical stage. India’s 7,500 km-long coastlines are rich with over 500,000 species, says Gupta. In spite of the delayed start and serious

financial constraints, about 1,700 species of marine flora and fauna have been collected and about 4,500 extracts have been screened. Extracts from the fruits of a mangrove species found on the coasts of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands show both anti-hyperglycernic (antidiabetic) and anti-diarrhoeal activities. According to GS Roonwal of the department of geology in Delhi University, our knowledge of the distribution of marine mineral endowment in the Indian Ocean has increased substantially over the last two decades of extensive survey. The actual production, at present, is restricted to heavy minerals containing beach placer, precious stones and aggregate as well as salt and chemicals from seawater. The anticipated exploration of deep sea minerals especially ferromanganese nodules for their copper, nickel and cobalt contents has not taken place and is unlikely in near future due to non-availability of suitable mining technology. According to Harsh K Gupta, former secretary, department of ocean development, continental margins of India has high reserves of gas-hydrates which should be explored for resolving energy problem and preventing natural disasters. M Ravindran, director of National Institute of Ocean Technology too advocates the use of thermal gradient available in the ocean to operate heat engine to produce work output. He says his institute is planning to set up a number of floating plants for the purpose.