The Pipeline
From ocean floor to medicine cabinet. Every approved drug began as a curiosity — a sponge that didn't get infected, a snail whose venom paralysed fish, a tunicate that glowed in the dark.
Compounds from the Deep
Selected marine-derived pharmaceuticals — from the ocean floor to clinical use.
Ziconotide (Prialt®)
Derived from the venom of a marine cone snail. A synthetic peptide that blocks pain signals at the spinal cord. Used for severe chronic pain when opioids fail. 1,000× more potent than morphine. Non-addictive.
Depth origin: Shallow reef (cone snail), but chemistry applicable to deep-sea venomous species
Cytarabine (Ara-C)
The first marine-derived anticancer drug. Isolated from a Caribbean sponge in the 1950s. Still a frontline treatment for leukaemia over 60 years later. Changed oncology forever.
Significance: Proved the ocean could produce viable pharmaceuticals
Eribulin (Halaven®)
Synthetic analogue of halichondrin B, found in a Japanese sea sponge. Required 30+ years of chemistry to synthesise. Now used to treat metastatic breast cancer. One of the most complex molecules ever manufactured.
Depth origin: Shallow to moderate depth sponge beds
Trabectedin (Yondelis®)
From a humble sea squirt — a sessile organism that filters seawater. Produces a compound that binds to DNA and disrupts cancer cell division. The animal produces it in trace amounts — took decades to develop synthetic production.
Question: What are deep-sea tunicates producing that we haven't sampled yet?
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Various)
The most widely consumed marine-derived pharmaceutical product globally. Originally sourced from deep-sea fish, now increasingly from cultivated microalgae. Cardiovascular protection, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective.
Market: Multi-billion dollar global market
Vent Bacteria Enzymes
Hydrothermal vent bacteria produce heat-stable enzymes that function at extreme temperatures. Taq polymerase — from a hot spring bacterium — enabled PCR testing and the entire COVID diagnostic industry. Deep-vent variants could be the next revolution.
Depth origin: 2,000-4,000m hydrothermal vents
Antarctic Sponge Compounds
Antarctic sponges produce unique antifreeze proteins and bioactive metabolites evolved over millions of years of isolation. Multiple compounds in development for anti-tumour, anti-microbial, and anti-inflammatory applications.
Challenge: Sampling requires ice-breaking research vessels and deep ROVs
Deep-Sea Shark Squalamine
An aminosterol first isolated from the dogfish shark liver. Exhibits broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity AND anti-angiogenic properties (blocks blood vessel growth in tumours). Being studied for both cancer and eye disease.
Note: Synthetic production now possible — no sharks harmed
The Discovery Engine
Species → Compounds → Diseases → Cures
36,000 marine natural products have been identified.
80% of the ocean hasn't been sampled.
The next antibiotic, the next cancer treatment,
the next pain medication without addiction —
it may already exist. At the bottom of the ocean.
Waiting to be found.
We catalogue. We connect. We illuminate.