Discoveries in Development As Drugs

Discodermolide, a microtubule interactive compound derived from the deep water sponge Discodermia spp. and discovered by Harbor Branch, was licensed to Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation in 1998 for development as an anticancer drug. This compound continues to be the subject of NIH grant-funded research by Drs. Ross Longley and Sarath Gunasekera, in collaboration with Dr. Robert Boeckman, Jr. (University of Rochester) and Novartis. This research focuses on the preparation and evaluation of natural and synthetic analogs of discodermolide which may lead to a better understanding of the structure-activity relationship of discodermolide as well as an improvement in the efficiency of synthesis of the compound. This could ultimately lead to a drug that is more potent and easier to synthesize than the parent compound, discodermolide.

Other compounds in preclinical trials include the topsentins, a series of bisindole alkaloids with potent antiinflammatory activity, derived from the deep water sponge Spongosorites spp., and the lasonolides, antitumor macrolides derived from the deep water sponge Forcepia, sp. Research on both of these series of compounds continues both in our laboratories as well as in the laboratories of our industrial collaborators.

Learn more about a new drug discovery made by HARBOR BRANCH researchers in which anti-fungal agents could be used to treat AIDS and cancer related conditions.