Fucoidan has gained a great interest as a potential drug candidate against various diseases including anti-coagulant, anti-viral and anti-tumors activities. However, several challenges have hampered fucoidan to be a GMP-compliant product and then FDA approval. This review discussed fucoidan structure's heterogeneity, co-extracted contaminants, and ecological-related Problems, which were considered as the major challenges faced fucoidan approval. Moreover, it presented novel opportunities toward homogenous production that gives high-quality, reliable and reproducible physico-chemical and clinical results. Among these opportunities are optimization of extraction and purification procedures, tissue culture techniques and enzymatic synthesis via heterologous expression of enzymes involved in its biosynthesis.

A. Zayed, R. Ulber, Fucoidan Production: Approval Key Challenges and Opportunities, Carbohydrate Polymers (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.01.105