QDIS Blog

Since there seems to be many negative stories surrounding the pharmaceutical industry, when there is something positive, I try to post about it. Sometimes, it is too easy to be negative.

Exelon is already approved for early to mid-stage Alzheimers. It works by preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine, an important neuro-transmitter. This seems to slow down the progression of Alzheimers but it is not a cure.

Novartis is seeking to expand the labeling to include dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease. It is already approved in about 14 countries in Europe for this indication. It would be the first drug approved in the US for dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease. Since about 40% of people with Parkinson’s progress also develop dementia, this will be an important treatment. It should be noted though that Novartis is being cautious and has said this is not a fast growing drug for them.

It is interesting that the name Exelon was approved since this is also the name of an energy company outside Chicago Here’s another interesting article on this potential confusion.

Resources:

• FDA Panel Backs Novartis Drug: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
• Yahoo! News Search Results for Exelon
• Exelon - Google News
• Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment - Exelon (rivastigmine tartrate) (main website for the drug)

Technorati Tags: alzheimers, dementia, Exelon, Parkinson’s disease

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In getting caught up on some of my literature reading, I came across an interesting article from the journal Organic Process Research and Development. Having spent my career as a development chemist, this journal is invaluable in keeping up to date with tricks and tips for large scale production. The following article was in the latest issue (Organic Process Research & Development 2006, 10, 163−164).

A Simple Modification to Prevent Side Reactions in Swern-Type Oxidations Using Py·SO3 Lijian Chen,* Steven Lee, Matt Renner, Qingping Tian, and Naresh Nayyar Chemical Research and Development, La Jolla Laboratories, Pfizer Inc.

The article describes using excess pyridine to convert the pyridine•sulfuric acid 1:1 salt which is present in commercial pyridine•sulfur trioxide to a 2:1 salt. This prevents unwanted side reactions from occurring, at least in this report. In this case they are oxidizing a primary alcohol to an aldehyde and then performing a Wittig reaction without isolating the aldehyde (a common approach in chemical development and production).

I just find it interesting that as widely used as the Swern oxidation is, this hasn’t been reported before. It is interesting to know that there are still “well-known reactions”, that actually aren’t. My usually reaction to being presented with a route containing a Swern oxidation is to ask what other oxidizing conditions have been tried. Unfortunately, at least early in the development process, nothing else was tried because the Swern oxidation worked so well.

Technorati Tags: swern oxidation

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