Halichondria produces the eribulin (Halaven) precursor halichondrin B<unk>  is the investigation and identification of medically important plants and animals in the<unk>  environment. It is a sub branch of terrestrial<unk> . Generally the drugs are obtained from the<unk>  species of bacteria, virus, algae, fungi and sponges. It is a relatively new field of study in western medicine, although many<unk>  organisms were used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It was not until 2004 that the first FDA approval of a drug came directly from the sea: ziconotide, which was isolated from a<unk>  cone snail. With 79% of the earth's surface covered by water, research into the chemistry of<unk>  organisms is relatively unexplored and represents a vast resource for new medicines to combat major diseases such as cancer, AIDS or malaria. Research typically focuses on sessile organisms or slow moving animals because of their inherent need for chemical defenses. Standard research involves an extraction of the organism in a suitable solvent followed by either an assay of this crude extract for a particular disease target or a rationally guided isolation of new chemical compounds using standard chromatography techniques.
Marine pharmacognosy
Chemical nomenclature
Drug labelling
Pharmaceutical marketing
Pollutant
Domestic medicine
Designer drug
Wonder Drug