1. A portfolio of marine-inspired drugs

The current therapeutic arsenal includes six marine-inspired drugs: four anti-cancer drugs, one painkiller and one hypotriglyceridemic. Of these, two have structures corresponding to natural molecules and four are derivatives. What's more, as the table 1 shows, there are currently almost thirty molecules in clinical trials. We can also see that invertebrates such as tunicates, sponges and molluscs represent the most interesting marine organisms in terms of producing molecules of interest. Furthermore, the considerable number of immunoconjugates (19) (antibody-drug conjugate = ADC) in clinical development for the treatment of cancer reflects the interest of clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry in the potential of this new therapeutic strategy