Where FTY720 (Fingolimod) comes from

I knew from prior research that FTY720 was derived from a fungus that has been used for centuries in ancient Chinese medicine, but today I actually stumbled across an image of the fungus. Thought it would pique your curiosity to share it with you:



It's not much to look at and truth be told, I am so glad they figured out how to encapsulate the good stuff and put it in tiny pill form. I would hate to try to gag one of those down every morning with my decaf. Ewww. Actually, to be more accurate, they figured out how to synthetically reproduce it, so I don't think there's a laboratory growing fungus somewhere to keep all us trial patients supplied with pills.

An interesting read is found on the page I got the image from:

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/jun2006.html