Scientists at McGill University have reduced the processes involved in drug testing, condensing the steps into one, which makes everything more agile and easier
A report published in Nature Chemistry presented a simpler and easier method for testing drugs in development. Normally, tests seek to ensure that molecules reach the appropriate areas of the body, and the new technique reduces this process to a single step.
Photo: bondarillia/Envato / Canaltech
To see if molecules reach certain parts of the body, scientists often add a radioactive atom (such as carbon-14) to the medicine, thus tracking its movement through the body. But it is a complicated process that requires several steps.
With the aim of transforming the technique to the point of incorporating carbon-14 into drug candidates in a single step, researchers at McGill University used a catalyst and replaced a carbon already present in the medicine with a carbon-14.
“The research replaces what can be a time-consuming, dangerous and expensive process, with a simple and safe process that requires just a few hours,” say the scientists who worked on the project.
Simplicity and less cost
The researchers add that, precisely because it is much more simplified, the approach could help speed up the stage in the drug development process and make it less dangerous.
This is because, as the authors state, “it is necessary to investigate the distribution and fate of a drug in the body for any pharmaceutical candidate to be approved.”
The McGill release explains that the process involves the carbon-14 atom supplied in the form of radioactive carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide gases, which are “both very difficult and dangerous to work with.”
The university points out that this “gas is then incorporated into the synthesis of the medicine being tested, making one of its carbon atoms carbon-14.”
New method speeds up drug testing processes (Image: Vladans/Envato)
Photo: Canaltech
When it comes to developing new medicines, it is a very expensive process. To give you an idea, estimates involve a growth of around 3% per year in costs, leading the pharmaceutical industry to spend R$970 billion by 2024.
With this problem in mind, we can see that this idea of simplifying processes can not only speed up drug testing, but also reduce production costs.
Source: Nature Chemistry, McGill University
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