Zeitschrift für Meeresbiologie und Ozeanographie

Approved Drugs from Marine Origin

Emma Griffin

Cytarabine is the first anti-cancer medicine of marine origin to be commercially accessible. It's a pyrimidine nucleoside analogue that serves as a cytotoxic medication that targets the cell cycle specifically. It is most active during cell division's S phase, when the cells are undertaking DNA synthesis. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cytarabine, which was marketed under the brand name Cytosar-U®. A staple medicine in the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and chronic myelogenous leukaemia is Cytosar-U®. Since then, further anti-cancer compounds derived from marine sources have been accessible. For example, the liposomal formulation CPX-351 (Vyxeos®) contains a 5:1 ratio of cytarabine and daunorubicin. When CPX-351 was delivered to the leukaemia cells of patients with secondary acute myeloid leukaemia, it resulted in a significant improvement in overall survival compared to the standard of care.