The American Society of Pharmacognosy Barry R. OKeefe, Executive - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The American Society of Pharmacognosy

Barry R. O’Keefe, Executive Committee American Society of Pharmacognosy Brandcenter, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, September 26, 2014

The American Society of Pharmacognosy

Founded in 1959 in Chicago, IL to “promote the growth and development of pharmacognosy, to provide opportunity for association among workers in science, to provide opportunities for presentation of research achievements, and to promote the publication of meritorious research.”

The American Society of Pharmacognosy

The Premier Society in the United States Devoted to the Study of Natural Products

• ASP members have been responsible for the discovery of several of

the most important anti-cancer drugs used today.

• Almost all of the currently used antibiotics have been derived from

natural products.

• Natural products are also the templates for antiviral, anti-cholesterol,

anti-diabetic, anti-malaria and immunosuppressive agents as well as pain medications.

• ASP members are also active in chemical ecology, biodiversity,

responsible sourcing and sustainable development of plants, animals, microbes and marine organisms.

Why Should You Care About Pharmacognosy?

The World’s Forests and Oceans are Rapidly Being Depleted of Unique Species. Natural Products Research and the ASP in Particular Support Biodiversity Efforts Around the Globe.

>50% of antimicrobial and anti-cancer drugs come from natural products. Most large pharmaceutical companies have eliminated natural product screening from their discovery efforts. All Small Molecule Drugs

Why Should You Care About Natural Products?

A Sample of Approved NP-derived Drugs 2007-2012

Trabectedin Ovarian, soft-tissue sarcoma 2007 Romidepsin T-cell Lymphomas 2009 Eribulin metastatic breast cancer 2010 Mifamurtide Osteosarcoma 2009 Ingenol metubate basal cell carcinoma 2012 Omacetaxine mepesuccinate chronic myelogenous leukemia 2012 Carfilzomib Multiple myeloma 2012 Ixabepilone Breast Cancer 2007 Retapamulin antibiotic 2007 Fidaxomicin antibiotic 2011 Brentuximab, Hodgkin’s lymphoma 2011

Less than 1% of biome examined!

So What Kind of Research Are We Talking About?

Ziconotide: Used for Pain Management

ASP Researchers are on the Forefront of Chemical Ecology and Microbial Genomics

ASP Researchers are Making a Difference in the Products You Buy

ASP researchers in Botanical Centers funded by the U.S. Government work to standardize herbal products and confirm their activity in clinical trials

Cancer: An Example of the Impact of ASP Members

Gordon Svoboda isolated Vincristine in 1961 from the Madagascar periwinkle. This class of alkaloids is still the second most used class of anti- cancer drugs. Monroe Wall and Mansukh Wani discovered Taxol from the Pacific Yew tree. To date Taxol is the best-selling anti-cancer drug ever made. Ken Rinehart’s group isolated ectinascidin from a sea squirt. It is now an approved drug for ovarian cancer

Svoboda, Wall and Wani are all Honorary Members of the ASP

Griffithsin: A Personal Story

• Griffithsia sp. (a red alga) originally collected in New Zealand
• Aqueous extract displayed potent anti-HIV activity
• Protein component of the extract had an anti-HIV activity <1 g/ml
• Griffithsin active against HIV at 0.000000000043 grams per milliliter

Griffithsin: A Personal Story

• Griffithsia sp. (a red alga) originally collected in New Zealand
• Aqueous extract displayed potent anti-HIV activity
• Protein component of the extract had an anti-HIV activity <1 g/ml
• Griffithsin active against HIV at <3 billionths of a gram per milliliter

pGRFT Purification

Griffithsin Production in Nicotiana benthamiana

Griffithsin is now headed to clinical trials as an “microbicide” gel for use by women and men to prevent infection by HIV, HSV, HPV and HCV

The Type of Visibility We’d Prefer to Avoid

The Ebola Virus

Epidemiology:

• First outbreak in Zaire 1976
• Natural host is unknown
• Transmission associated with close contact (blood or body fluids)
• Current outbreak in Africa is the largest ever recorded, a global crisis

Sign and Symptoms: (Abrupt Onset ) Fever Malaise Chills Loss of appetite Muscle aches Headache Abdominal pain Nausea/ vomiting Maculopaplar rash Clinical Features:

• Incubation period: 4-21 days
• Liver function impaired
• Bleeding & dysregulated coagulation (clotting)
• Morbidity/shock 6-9 days after onset
• Case fatality rates high (40-90%)
• No apparent immune response in fatal cases
• Humanized antibodies currently being used for treatment
• Vaccine for Zaire strain in Phase I clinical trial (safety)

20 40 60 80 100 120 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

Time (Days) Percent Survival

1 D-1 Treatments 2 D0 Treatments 1hr Post Chall. 3 D1 Treatments 4 D2 Treatments 5 D3 Treatments 6 PBS Control (D- 1 Treat)

* Treatment ended on Day 10

Efficacy of Griffithsin Against Ebola Zaire

All Surviving Mice have Permanent Neutralizing Immunity to Ebola Zaire

D-1 Treatments D-0 Treatments D+1 Treatments D +2 Treatments PBS Control D+3 Treatments

The Type of Visibility We’d Like to Encourage

Report of a scientific meeting (American Chemical Society) Published in the journal Science Responsible description of the science (not overly hyped) The type of publicity we would like to generate from ASP annual meetings

Potential Areas of Improvement for the ASP:

• 1. The Name of the Society
• 2. Membership
• 3. Organizational Structure
• 4. Information Dissemination
• 5. Technical Footprint
• 6. Annual Meetings
• 7. Logo and Graphics

The American Society of Pharmacognosy

We hope that the VCU Brandcenter can help us to improve the recognition

• f the ASP in both the scientific and lay communities and that this will aid in

enhancing membership and connecting with a new generation of scientists.

From Wikipedia: Pharmacognosy is the study of medicines derived from natural sources. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as the “study of the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of natural

• rigin as well as the search for new drugs from natural sources”

Pharmacognosy from the original Greek “pharma” drug and “cognosy” knowledge

This, unfortunately, is always the question!

The ASP is concerned that most people, even scientists, have no idea what pharmacognosy means.

The Name of the Society

• r What is Pharmacognosy?

The Name of the Society

The name of the Society must capture the core aspects of the mission of the ASP and be immediately identifiable by scientists and intuitively understandable by the lay public The name should represent the totality of the interdisciplinary sciences that make up modern research in natural products It is unusual to change the name of a scientific society, especially after 50 years. We are unlikely to ever change it again. The Society is increasingly international and we wish to encourage further international growth. As there have been changes in pharmacognosy over the last 50 years, there will be over the next 50; so the name must be broad enough to encompass the past, the present, and the future.

Membership

Current Total Members (2014) = 668 North America = 75% Asia/MidEast/Australia/New Zealand = 14% Europe = 7% Africa = 2% South/Latin America = 2% Membership base = 771 (median paid membership last 5 years) Total membership = 1175 (all who have been members at one point) Current new members number <50 per year and generally only make up for lost members leaving membership stagnant or declining over the last 5 years ASP members include both scientists involved in research on the isolation and characterization of active molecules from natural sources and those devoted to herbal remedies and the traditional use of medicinal plants for

• health. Current estimates are that 4.5 billion people world-wide

predominantly rely on medicinal plants as their source of medicines.

Membership

A complete membership directory with contact information for all ASP members is available on line to members and will be made available to VCU Project Teams to obtain information/opinion from ASP members worldwide (its an iPhone App).

Organizational Structure

ASP- main scientific society ASP Foundation – associated non-profit charity Journal of Natural Products – society scientific journal co-published with the American Chemical Society

• Society governed by an elected Executive Committee (4 yr terms) led

by a President elected for a 1 year term

• Officers include Treasurer and Secretary (5 year terms) and a Vice-

president (1 year term prior to becoming president)

• Recently 1 permanent employee hired in support of the treasurer and

the society in general.

• The Foundation is run by an appointed board and treasurer.

Information Dissemination

Mainly through two electronic avenues The ASP Web Site - public access except for member directory The ASP Newsletter – delivered by email to members and archived on the ASP web site.

The ASP Newsletter

• Published electronically four

times a year.

• Generally over 20 pages of

text

• No current advertising
• Sent to all ASP members by

email as part of membership

• Produced by a volunteer and

co-workers who receive honoraria

• Chemical and Engineering News
• Published weekly by the American

Chemical Society both online and print

• Significant advertising content
• Available only to ACS members
• Produced professionally
• Over 160,000 circulation

An Example of a Most Successful Newsletter

The ASP Web Site

• From July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 there were 49,418 hits to the web site.
• 53% the result of internet searches (Google responsible for 57%
• 23% from direct access
• 10% referred from the Journal of Natural Products web site
• Of the total visits, 28,628 (58%) were logged as new users.
• The average user accesses 2.5 pages per visit in just under 3 min.
• The US is the source of the greatest number of site visits (70%); Korea

(5%), China (5%), Great Britain (3%), France (2%), and Brazil (< 2%) are the origins of the most frequent visits from outside the US.

• The visits to the website resulted in 122,058 page views. The home page is

the most highly visited page (24%), followed by the ASP employment service (Jobs) pages (18%). Other frequently visited pages are the links to graduate programs (8%), journals (5%), Journal of Natural Products page (5%), and future ASP meetings (4%).

Potential Re-design of the Web Page

The Journal of Natural Products (JNP) is the main (only) scientific journal of the ASP JNP is co-published with The American Chemical Society 1082 manuscripts submitted to JNP for publication in 2013 (31% accepted)

• highest number submitted
• lowest percent accepted
• highest impact factor reached

Two awards given annually for the best papers published by JNP

Technical Footprint: The Journal of Natural Products

Annual Meetings

The ASP hosts a scientific symposium every year

Generally >500 people attend the annual meeting The venue changes every year and is dependent on a volunteer local

• rganizing committee

The meeting is often a source of additional revenue for the Society Every 5th year the meeting is jointly held with four European Societies (the Pharmacognosy Society of French Speaking Persons (AFERP), the Society for Medicinal Plant Research (GA), the Phytochemical Society of Europe (PSE), and the Italian Society of Pharmacognosy (SIF)) Very little press coverage (scientific or lay) has usually been realized from the annual meeting.

Logo and Graphics

ASP is a Popular Designation

Average American’s Frame of Reference

Author Wade Davis’ Ph.D. mentor at Harvard was Richard Evans Schultes (ASP Honorary Member) A bad movie (24% Rotten Tomatoes) with bad science

The American Society of Pharmacognosy Thank you for your willingness to work with us on re-branding the ASP and Thank you for your Attention!