Marine Pharmacology in Australia. The Roche Research Institute at Dee Why, New South Wales, 1974 - 81

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian D. Rae
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Lead Compounds ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Organic Chemist ◽  
Research Institute

Hoffmann-La Roche supported the work of University of Queensland zoologist Robert Endean in the late 1960s, but the company’s deepening interest in the prospect of ‘drugs from the sea’ led them to establish the Roche Research Institute of Marine Pharmacology (RRIMP) at Dee Why, New South Wales. It was headed by Dr Joe Baker, an Australian organic chemist who had researched marine natural products. RRIMP took advice from several influential advisers, and Baker recruited chemists, pharmacologists, microbiologists, and marine biologists. Despite the conjecture, raised in some quarters, that RRIMP was established to mute the Australian government criticism of the pricing of Roche’s most famous product, Valium, I believe that the research venture was a genuine attempt to find lead compounds in organisms from Australian waters with a view to the development of new drugs. Changes in the research directions taken by Hoffmann-La Roche resulted in the closure of RRIMP in mid-1981, before any such success could be claimed for the Dee Why operation. RRIMP scientists, an elite but suddenly redundant group, secured positions in other Australian laboratories.

The Roche Research Institute of Marine Pharmacology, 1974 - 1981: Searching for Drug Leads from Australian Marine Organisms

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian D. Rae
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Marine Organisms ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Lead Compounds ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Pharmacological Potential ◽  
The University ◽  
Drug Leads ◽  
Research Institute

In the late 1960s the Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche was attracted to the pharmacological potential of extractives from Australian marine organisms. At first the company supported the work of University of Queensland zoologist Robert Endean and work at the Great Barrier Reef Research Station on Heron Island. Within a few years, however, they severed their connection with Endean and established the Roche Research Institute of Marine Pharmacology (RRIMP) at Dee Why, New South Wales. Opened in April 1974, the Institute was led by Dr J. T. Baker, an Australian organic chemist who had researched marine natural products. State-of-the-art pharmacology was introduced with guidance from Professor Michael Rand of the University of Melbourne. The staff that Baker recruited included chemists, pharmacologists, microbiologists and marine biologists. Despite the conjecture, raised in some quarters, that RRIMP was established to mute the Australian Government's criticism of the pricing of Roche's most famous product, Valium, it is argued that the research venture was a genuine attempt to find lead compounds in organisms from Australian waters with a view to the development of new drugs. Before any such success could be achieved by RRIMP scientists, however, sweeping changes in the parent company resulted in the closure of RRIMP in mid-1981 and dispersal of its expert staff, mostly to other Australian laboratories.

Revision of the genus Metura (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) with description of two new species

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4861 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-210
Author(s):  
ETHAN P. BEAVER
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Lord Howe Island ◽  
South Wales ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Two New Species

The genus Metura Walker, 1855 is revised, with all species figured, diagnosed, and redescribed. Two new species are described from Australia: Metura phyllosacca sp. n. from south eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales, and M. falcata sp. n. from Lord Howe Island. The species Oiketicus aristocosma Lower, 1908 is here recognised as Metura aristocosma (Lower, 1908) comb. n. The mature larval bags, diagnostic by way of their structure, are figured for all species. A key is provided for the adult males and larval bags of this genus. A brief discussion is included, outlining potential research directions. 

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