The origins of fungi-based drugs

You can find fungi anywhere: in 1.5 million year old ice cores bored from Antarctic glaciers;¹ in the reactor at Chernobyl;² and in sea water near sewage outflow pipes.³ To deal with the rigours of life in extreme environments and elsewhere, fungi evolved a massive chemical armoury.

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Partly co-incidentally and partly because, millions of years ago, mammals and fungi shared a common ancestor, many fungal-derived chemicals are pharmacologically active in humans. Indeed, you probably manage people taking medicines that derive from or are based on fungal chemicals every day. Certain antibiotics, immunosuppressants, obstetric drugs and lipid-lowering statins all derive, ultimately, from fungi. More recently, researchers assessed fungal-derived chemicals for certain cancers and several psychiatric conditions.³ Indeed, Prescott et al note that ‘Fungal-derived drugs include some of the most important medicines ever discovered’ and ‘have in some cases changed perceptions of what is medically possible’.³