DRUGS FROM
BUGS
Will the Insects
revolutionize medical research?
The biological
diversity of plants and microorganisms has been extensively
harnessed by the pharmaceutical industry. In contrast, the
use of the immense diversity of the world of insects and
arthropods in order to develop new drugs is still its
infancy. Entomed, a company founded in 1999 in Strasbourg
(eastern France) was the first to be launched out in the
adventure and today it remains leader in the
field.
Insects have roamed the Earth
for the past 500 million years and represent no less than
90% of the known animal species. They have developed a
multitude of chemical systems to protect themselves from
predators, resist infections and communicate. Meadows of a
million species are currently identified and those that
remain to be discovered are estimateds at four to six
million those which remain to be discovered. Their chemistry
is of an amazing richness and a variety offering of the
innovative medicinal prospects. Their therapeutic potential,
although recognized by many traditional pharmacopeias, had
been until a recent past under estimated by pharmaceutical
research.
Entomed, was the first company
to have undertaken a systematic study of the pharmacological
effect of the molecules founded in insects. The prospects
for applications of these molecules cover several
therapeutic fields, in particular the treatment of the
infections and cancer.
To get its famous small bugs,
the company of Strasbourg hired the services of a
specialist: Roland Lupoli, the single entomologist engaged
in France in 2001. He had to set up a network of suppliers
of insects, baptized EntowebTM, and already prospected many
countries. "Entoweb is one of our priorities. We have
correspondents in the whole world because we seek to obtain
the greatest possible diversity ".
In order to unearth new
suppliers or new territories of harvest, Roland Lupoli often
leaves on the ground and thus shares his time between
Strasbourg and the tropical and equatorial forests of the
whole world. It even frequently sometimes happens to him to
go to collect itself the insects. Its favorite hunting
ground is then French Guyana, where Entomed established a
permanent desk at Petit Jump close to Kourou and in which it
goes on average every three months.
To capture insects, all the
means are good: butterfly net, net to fauchoir, beating,
captures at sight... but the must remains the luminous
piègage of night. A whole ceremonial: to choose one
night without the moon, to count two to four hours to insert
you in the rain forest, to arrive at the twilight, to
install a camp for the night, to tighten a large enlightened
white cloth by three strong lamps supplied with a power
generating unit and, finally, to await the first guests.
Throughout the night, the insects, attracted by this
luminous spot lost in darkness of the forest, will
succèderont themselves on cloth in a well defined
order: initially the worms luisants, then butterflies,
locusts, let us charançons, of the grasshoppers...
The harlequin of Guyana, large red and black coleopter,
shows himself only before midnight; enormous Titan measuring
nearly 20 cm appears only at the point of the day. It does
not remain any more in Roland but to make his choice. "the
most interesting varieties are aposematic: in the event of
danger, they seek to be seen. A way of announcing to their
predator which they have of the toxic substances and can be
defended."
And toxic substances are
precisely what is interesting Entomed...
At the time of its creation,
Entomed worked on the anti-microbial peptides produced by
the insects and responsible of the remarkable resistance of
these animals to any type of infection. These peptides
offered in particular original prospects to develop
effective treatments against serious infections such as the
multiresistants nosocomiales infections, crucial problem in
the hospitals. Assessment: 5 world patents relating to new
anti-microbial peptides. Unfortunatly, peptides have a
disadvantage: their production cost remains high what is
limiting their prospects for application. This report led in
2002 Entomed, which had become a true company meanwhile
employing 39 people, including 34 researchers, to start on
another track even more promising: the discovery and the
development of the small molecules secreted by the insects
and other arthropods. "Those are less difficult to develop,
less expensive to produce and, therefore, more competitive",
declares Jean Combalbert, the Chairman and Managing Director
of Entomed. "Since we work in this new direction we have
already deposited several patents relating to theinfectious
ones in particular and the anti-cancer ones but it will
still take us a few years before arriving from there at the
clinical testing stage at the man."
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