[Marine resources and drugs: fishing for molecules].

Abstract

Biodiversity on the Earth is mainly made up of the huge number of existing marine organisms. Marine animals and plants elaborate a great panel of chemicals, many of them exhibiting strong biological activities. So, the seas enable human kingdom to obtain a large number of active products of medicinal interest. This paper deal with the various steps since the collection of the marine samples up to the marketing of the new molecules. Recent drugs from the seas and the main scientific or industrial partners concerned are also introduced.