Venoms, toxins and derivatives from the Brazilian fauna: valuable sources for drug discovery / 生理学报

ABSTRACT

Animal venoms have been widely investigated throughout the world. The great number of biotechnological articles as well as patent applications in the field of drug discovery based on these compounds indicates how important the source is. This review presents a list of the most studied Brazilian venomous animal species and shows the most recent patent applications filed from 2000 to 2013, which comprise Brazilian venoms, toxins and derivatives. We analyze the data according to the species, the type of products claimed and the nationality of the inventors. Fifty-five patent applications were found, involving 8 genera. Crotalus, Lachesis, Bothrops and Loxosceles represented 78% of the patent applications. The other 22% were represented by Phoneutria, Tityus, Acanthoscurria and Phyllomedusa. Most of the inventions (42%) involved anticancer, immunomodulator or antimicrobial drugs, while 13% involved anti-venoms and vaccines, 11% involved hypotensive compositions, 9% involved antinociceptive and/or anti-inflammatory compositions, and the other 25% involved methods, kits or compositions for various purposes. Brazilian inventors filed 49% of the patent applications, but other countries, mainly the United States of America, Germany, Russia and France, also filed patent applications claiming products comprising venoms, toxins and/or derivatives from the Brazilian fauna. Brazil holds an important number of patent applications which mostly belong to universities and research institutes, but the pharmaceutical industry in this field is still weak in Brazil. Although, Brazilian venomous animal species have been reported in drug discovery throughout the world, many species remain to be explored as valuable and promising tools for drug discovery and development.