Last Updated: 04/06/07
Drug Discovery— International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups
http://www.fic.nih.gov/programs/research_grants/icbg/index.htm
Contact:
Bruce Butrum
301-496-1670, butrumb@mail.nih.gov
Natural products are a leading source of therapeutics—anticancer agents included. For instance, some 60 to 65 percent of all anticancer drugs are derived from natural products. Additionally, sales figures from 2003 show that for all drug sales of more than $1 billion, purely synthetic therapies comprise only 20 percent of the market.
The International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) program addresses the interdependent issues of drug discovery, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable economic growth. Funding awarded under a program announcement ( http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-TW-04-004.html), which expired in February 2006, is supporting groups that are conducting research on using nature’s diverse resources for drug development, but this research also is focused on maintaining biodiversity and promoting economic growth in countries that have potentially natural-sourced drugs.
Since awards were first made in 1992, ICBGs have conducted research in nine countries in Latin America, Africa, Southeast and Central Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Some 5000 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been collected to examine biological activity in 19 different therapeutic areas. Numerous publications in chemistry, biodiversity policy, conservation, and ethnobiology have emerged from the funded investigators, and several novel compounds have been discovered.
Funding for this program has been provided by nine components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Biological Sciences Directorate of the National Science Foundation, and the Foreign Agriculture Service and Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The cooperating NIH components are the Fogarty International Center; NCI; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; National Institute of Mental Health; National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Office of Dietary Supplements; and National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
No new applications for this program are being accepted at this time.
