REPORT SCOPE
INTRODUCTION
“The search for bioactive metabolites from marine microbes has only just begun”—David Newman, D. Phil, and Russell Hill, PhD, New Drugs from Marine Microbes: The Tide is Turning (2006)
STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
BCC’s goal in conducting this study was to determine the current status of the global marine-derived pharmaceutical market, including its growth potential during the period of 2011 to 2016. Our key objective is to present a comprehensive analysis of marine life and technology as they relate to pharmaceutical applications and to forecast this market’s future direction.
REASONS FOR DOING THIS STUDY
Our understanding of marine life only began during the last half of the 20th century. The first marine discovery that led to a pharmaceutical drug began in the 1950s when chemists Bergmann and Feeney isolated nucleosidic compounds from the Caribbean sponge Cryptotethya crypta. Marine drugs on the market today can be traced to this discovery (e.g., anticancer drug cytarabine).
While marine life is used for many applications, including food and industrial processing, its use in the pharmaceutical industry has just begun. Marine life offers a complex and diverse genetic resource unavailable on land, which has led to the exploration of the oceans to find new tests and cures for illnesses. Entire classes of antibiotics desperately needed for a world surviving on relatively few antibiotics, which people are becoming resistant to, could be found in just a few marine samples.
This report describes the potential of marine research and its growth prospects. It is estimated that marine-derived drugs will essentially double in number from 2011 to 2016. Because marine-derived drugs already account for a few powerful drugs, this area of the drug industry has already generated billions of dollars to date.
SCOPE OF REPORT
The scope of this study encompasses research organizations, the U.S. government chiefly in the form of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and companies that develop or help in the development process of pharmaceuticals derived from marine life. Included are extensive descriptions, perspectives, and predictive information, including forecasts of growth over the next 5 years. Technological issues, including the latest trends, are discussed.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
In this report, marine-derived pharmaceuticals are described in terms of their history in medicine, technology types and categories, research organizations, major companies, impact on the pharmaceutical market, applications, current market values, growth potential, and significant trends. This study will be of interest to non-profits and the government sector as well as the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and related life science, analytics, drug discovery, and diagnostic test manufacturing companies as well as all those interested in or actively working in drug and imaging agent research and investors in all of the above.
METHODOLOGY
BCC presents an analysis of the types of technologies, applications, and therapeutic areas representing the financial value of marine-derived pharmaceuticals. Estimated values are based on actual aggregate sales for the years discussed. Information, in general, is compiled through a combination of primary and secondary research, including annual reports and interviews with company and government officials as well as experts in academia.
INFORMATION SOURCES
BCC’s analysis includes the review of more than 50 companies and information from financial and trade publications as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Included were pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as support companies to them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kim Lawson is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a degree in English Literature. She acquired experience as a healthcare journalist, including working for John Wiley & Sons for years as a print reporter, before serving as a research analyst in a small market research firm that focused on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina. Before joining that firm, Kim published two reports on emerging and established diagnostics and therapeutics for benign and cancerous breast disease.
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DISCLAIMER
The information developed in this report is intended to be as reliable as possible at the time of publication and of a professional nature. This information does not constitute managerial, legal, or accounting advice; nor should it serve as a corporate policy guide, laboratory manual, or an endorsement of any product, as much of the information is of a speculative nature. The author assumes no responsibility for any loss or damage that might result from reliance on the reported information or from its use.
Source: BCC Research
