Democratizing the Production of Medicines

 

Peter H. Seeberger

 

Max-Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces

 

The synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), the key components of all medicines, is a highly regulated process that is performed in dedicated facilities. Ideally, much needed medications could be produced in remotely operated facilities anywhere with continuous quality control to assure access to life-saving drugs and avoid shortages. In that context, continuous chemical processes have attracted academic and industrial interest.1 A general introduction to the topic and early work in the field will focus on continuous photochemistry2 that eventually resulted in the production of the malaria medication artemisinin3 in a very simple process from plant waste, air and light.4.

Continuous flow systems are useful for automated reaction optimization6 and provide reliable data for the use of machine learning tools to predict the outcome of reactions and thereby accelerate chemical and pharmaceutical research. 7

Modular chemical assembly systems exhibit control over assembly processes and have been used to prepare a variety of active pharmaceutical ingredients in life-saving generic drugs.8 The “radial synthesis” concept enables the autonomous production of medications9 and has been scaled to produce generic drugs.

The Center for the Transformation of Chemistry, a new, large research center, received €1.3 billion funding to utilize these technologies to revolutionize chemical research and establish sustainable production processes.

 

1. Plutschack, M.; Pieber, B.; Gilmore, K.; Seeberger, P.H.; Chem.Rev. 2017, 117, 11796.

2. Lévesque, F.; Seeberger, P.H.; Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 5008.

3. Lévesque, F.; Seeberger, P. H. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 1706. (b) Kopetzki, D. Lévesque, F.; Seeberger, P. H. Chem. Eur. J. 2013, 19, 5450.

4. Triemer, S.; Gilmore, K.; Truong Vu, G.; Seeberger, P.H.; Seidel-Morgenstern, A.; Angew.Chem.Int.Ed. 2018, 57, 5525.

6. Chatterjee, S.; Moon, S.; Hentschel, F.; Gilmore, K.; Seeberger, P.H.; J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140, 11942.

7. Moon, S.; Chatterjee, S.; Seeberger, P.H.; Gilmore, K. Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 2931

8. Ghislieri, D.; Gilmore, K.; Seeberger, P.H.; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 678. Correia, C.A.; Gilmore, K.; McQuade, D.T.; Seeberger, P.H.; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 4945.

9. Chatterjee, S.; Guidi, M.; Seeberger, P.H.; Gilmore, K.; Nature 2020, 579, 379.

 

 

Keywords:

Continuous Flow Chemistry, Automated Synthesis