I2D Exploration of medical potential of marine organisms

Specialists in the fight against cancer are keen to find a way round the limitations imposed by the general radio- and chemotherapy treatments currently available. The future lies in "bullet" treatments using substances identified for their specific effects on a particular type of tumour and targeted very precisely at the point of tumour damage.
Scientists are seeking molecules capable of acting on different types of cancers, on leukaemia and also on diseases of the immune system, particularly from among marine plants, animals and microbes. The I2D project combines the expertise of MAT Biopharma, a company specialising in biopharmaceutical molecules, and the skills of medical researchers at Brest's university hospital (CHU) in the areas of oncology, haematology and immunology. Together they are exploring and developing the unique collections of marine organisms assembled and held by the IFREMER and Université de Bretagne Occidentale laboratories. After extraction and purification, the molecules undergo extensive trials at the high-speed screening facility in Brest to uncover their therapeutic properties.
Expectations are high and international competition extremely fierce: by 2003 the world market for biopharmaceutical molecules had already reached a turnover of 38 billion dollars.