SEAFDEC/AQD Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center | Aquaculture Department
by Development Communication Section
“Pharmaceuticals from lab to market” was the topic of Dr. Annabelle Villalobos’ seminar on 31 July. She is a Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Balik-Scientist and Johnson Consultant at the BioPharmaceuticals R&D (USA).
Dr. Villalobos highlighted that marine ecosystem can be a source to isolate new cellular targets for therapeutics. She noted that marine species such as sponges, byrozoans, mollusks and tunicate are now being used in the field of pharmaceuticals from this site said that it is beneficial to shampoos and various other drug testing units out there since they have low toxic side effects. According to her, the industry is now facing challenges that include accessibility, rarity and large-scale production of marine pharmaceutical products. Not only that, she also discussed the process on how to develop new drugs. Lastly, she encouraged young researches to conduct more studies on marine species since there are still a lot of things that need to be done.
