Abstract

Karol Angulo-Baltodano, Jimena Campos-Cubero, Sebastián Monge-Jiménez, Juan José Mora Román, Rolando Vargas-Zúñiga, Daniela González-Corrales and German Madrigal-Redondo*

ABSTRACT

Pharmaceutical biotechnology has been essential for the development of new drugs. Biological medicines consist of substances obtained from natural sources, chemical synthesis (exact copies of the molecules present in nature), or genetic modification of said sources. Additionally, biotechnological products include only those manufactured by applying genetic engineering techniques such as recombinant DNA technology, which can be divided into transformation, phage library, and non-bacterial transformation. Microorganisms play a vital role in these products. For the industrial processes associated with them, it is necessary to control multiple conditions to promote their optimal growth, such as temperature, oxygen, and pH. The studies have made it possible to obtain antineoplastics (marizomib, actinomycin D, romidepsin), antibiotics (2-allyloxyphenol, essramycin, anthracimycin, pargamicin A, tetracycline, streptomycin), immunosuppressants (cyclosporin A, rapamycin), and hormones (human recombinant insulin). Some have been commercialized, while others are in distinct research stages. Despite the success achieved, the discoveries continue, reflecting the multiple efforts to know the resources provided by nature to obtain substances with varied pharmacological effects.