Throughout history, civilizations may rise and fall, but one thing remains constant — nature finds a way to adapt and survive.

How does this happen and what can we hope to learn from it? These are precisely the questions that we are asking ourselves at Nutra Pharma.

As many of you know, our drug discovery holding ReceptoPharm is developing treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), Herpes, and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) using modified cobra venom and cobratoxin.

Studying one of the deadliest creatures on the Planet for treating some of the worlds’ most devastating diseases may seem odd to many of you. It is, but what we have realized is that cobras may in fact hold the key to the success of our drug development for treating neurological and autoimmune disorders.

If you still are not convinced this is possible, just consider these odd sources for leading drugs:

• Prialt (Elan) – Venom from the Conus snail used to treat pain
• Aggrastat (Merck) – Venom from the African Saw-Scaled Viper used to prevent blood clots
• Exenatide (Eli Lilly and Amylin) — Poisonous Saliva from the Gila Monster used to treat diabetes

For your viewing pleasure, here is a short presentation from famed oceanic explorer, David Gallo, showing us how nature has equipped itself to adapt and survive, even in the harshest of conditions. Maybe those of us in the life science and biotechnology industries can learn something from these amazing sea creatures:

(For those reading this in your email, click here to see the video)

1 Comment

I’ve just followed a link from Feedburner, just like to commend you guys on using a blog to communicate ideas, and new ways of thinking about pharmaceuticals and the industry etc.

Its interesting to see someone in your sector jumping onto the web. I found the video super by the way.

Comment by Paul Anthony — March 18, 2008 @ 12:39 pm

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