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In the medicine world now a new term zooceuticals is
often heard. It is a term, which deals with the
influence of drugs of zoological origin on
pharmaceutical science. There are several medicines,
which are used, now-a-days and their origin is from
animals. Most of these drugs are proteins / peptides in
nature. With the coming of sophisticated technologies
to separate, characterize and mass produce proteins and
peptides, the research on potent drugs of zoological
origin is fast catching up and may be in the future
provide with much needed breakthrough in several deadly
diseases. The purpose of this review is to shed some
light on some of the most prominent molecules of
potential to be established as drugs of future. Most of
these promising candidates have come from such uncommon
organisms such as snake, bats, lizards, etc, and often
very potent and toxic in higher doses. Some other rare
species like desert pupfish, which can be used for
human kidney disease, different species of snake whose
venom contains derived toxins, are used in treatment of
cancer.1 The foregoing facts are only a
glimpse at the huge resources with which nature is
waiting for us to explore her, particularly the animal
kingdom. An attempt has been made to point out the
importance of zoology in the field of pharmaceuticals,
with focus on pharmaceuticals obtained from marine
source.
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