New UMaine analysis may assist decrease prescription drug prices

ORONO — One of the primary elements driving costs in prescribed drugs, comparable to cholesterol-lowering medicine and antibiotics, is the price of manufacturing and supplies. Researchers on the University of Maine Forest Bioproducts Research Institute have found a sustainable technique to supply the important thing ingredient in a broad vary of prescribed drugs, which may assist tackle excessive prescription drug prices within the U.S. 

Among a number of the most costly medicines are people who require a chiral middle  ― a property by which a molecule can’t be superimposed with its mirror picture, like proper and left fingers. Chirality can direct a drug’s organic results together with efficacy, unwanted effects and metabolization. The worth of chiral medicine is vastly contributed to the constructing blocks used throughout synthesis, that are pricey to supply as a consequence of complicated response and purification pathways. 

In a brand new examine not too long ago printed in Chem, FBRI researchers discover a brand new, cost-reducing pathway to supply considered one of these essential constructing blocks, (S)-3-hydroxy-γ-butyrolactone (HBL), from glucose at excessive concentrations and yields. 

According to researchers, HBL is a chiral species used for the synthesis of an array of essential medicine comparable to statins, antibiotics and HIV inhibitors. Because glucose may be derived from any lignocellulosic feedstock ― comparable to wooden chips, sawdust, tree branches or different woody biomass ― this course of opens a brand new door for the sustainable manufacturing of HBL. This method may additionally probably be used to supply different forms of essential client merchandise. 

“If we use other kinds of wood sugars, like xylose that is an unneeded byproduct from making pulp and paper, we expect that we could produce new chemicals and building blocks, like green cleaning products or new renewable, recyclable plastics,” mentioned Thomas Schwartz, affiliate director of FBRI and affiliate professor within the Maine College of Engineering and Computing who was a lead writer for the paper.

In addition to its use as a chiral species, HBL has been recognized as a extremely useful precursor to a wide range of chemical compounds and plastics by the U.S. Department of Energy. Previous makes an attempt to supply HBL sustainably achieved solely restricted success as a consequence of questions of safety, ineffectiveness or an absence of cost-efficiency.

“The competing processes either lead to low yields, use hazardous starting materials or are just generally costly because of the chosen production scheme and low output,” mentioned Schwartz. “The commercial process is expensive because you have to add the chiral center to the molecule, which doesn’t occur naturally with most petrochemicals.”

Not solely does this new method lead to considerably decreased greenhouse fuel emissions, however the manufacturing prices are additionally decreased by greater than 60% in comparison with present strategies that use petroleum-derived feedstocks. The course of may also yield different commercially essential chemical compounds, comparable to glycolic acid, which presents extra financial alternatives. 

The analysis included work from college students within the UMaine Catalysis Group led by Schwartz and was carried out in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Products Laboratory and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Funding for the challenge was supplied by the USDA, U.S. Forest Service and the National Science Foundation.