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Nereus Pharmaceuticals was a pharmaceutical company focused on the development of natural products from marine microbial and other natural sources into small molecule human therapeutics.[4] The major disease area addressed by Nereus is cancer. Nereus was purchased by Triphase Research and Development in 2012.[5]
Drug discovery
Until 2004, Nereus used methods licensed from the University of California, San Diego to retrieve and cultivate marine microorganisms, particularly bacteria in the Actinobacteria class and organisms belonging to Kingdom Fungi.[4] Since 2004, the company has focused on commercializing identified bioactive natural products.[4] As of mid-2007, two compounds were being examined in Phase I clinical trials: NPI-2358 and NPI-0052.[4]
Plinabulin (NPI-2358) is a halimide derivative, halimide itself having been isolated from a member of genus Aspergillus.[4][6] This compound appears to selectively disrupt tumour vasculature through interaction with microtubules.[4]
NPI-1342 (Acanthoic Acid analog, NPI-1302a-3) is a plant derived orally active small molecule that targets the NF_kB transcript factor pathway. It is significantly active against cancer and inflammatory diseases and is being developed for clinical testing in multiple myeloma and glioblastoma.
Salinosporamide A (NPI-0052) is a natural product of Salinispora tropica, a member of the bacterial family Micromonosporaceae that was first isolated in 2002 and taxonomically identified genetically in 2005.[7] NPI-0052 acts as a proteasome inhibitor.[4]
References
1. "Executive Team". Nereus Pharmaceuticals. Archived from the original on 2008-01-08. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
2. "Board of Directors". Nereus Pharmaceuticals. Archived from the original on 2008-01-08. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
3. "Company Overview". Nereus Pharmaceuticals. Archived from the original on 2008-01-08. Retrieved 2008-01-19. Number of employees - 36
4. Carol Potera (2007-06-15). "Nereus Prospects Oceans for Cancer Drugs". Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-19. Nereus mines microorganisms collected from the ocean to find new small molecule drug candidates, much like older pharmaceutical companies discovered new drugs by screening soil.
5. http://www.evaluategroup.com/View/4553--co-coInfo/Company/nereus_pharmaceuticals
6. US 6069146
7. Luis A., Maldonado; W. Fenical; P. R. Jensens; C. A. Kauffman; et al. (2005-04-15). "Salinispora arenicola gen. nov., sp. nov. and Salinispora tropica sp. nov., obligate marine actinomycetes belonging to the family Micromonosporaceae". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. Society for General Microbiology. 55 (5): 1759--1766. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.63625-0. PMID 16166663. Retrieved 2008-01-19. Isolated from coarse sand off the Bahamas. The type strain is CNB-440T (=ATCC BAA-916T=DSM 44818T). (from Results & Discussion section)
