Seaweeds to the rescue of forgotten diseases: a review

Abstract

Abstract Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of diseases that are predominant in the poorest parts of the world affecting 1.4 billion people. The development of new drugs is urgently needed in order to combat these forgotten diseases. Natural products from marine organisms have been widely explored as a source of new bioactive molecules. However, despite their enormous potential in drug discovery, not even one seaweed-based molecule has entered pre-clinical testing for NTDs. This review gives an overview of the current status of algal natural products against NTDs. The list of compounds is by no means exhaustive, but covers the most important classes of active substances in marine algae against the most studied NTDs.