Posted on 04/30/2006 9:40:41 PM PDT by neverdem
Making oseltamivir, the antiviral drug that has become the world's first-line defense if an influenza pandemic strikes, is a long and complicated process. But in papers published online yesterday by the Journal of the American Chemical Society, two research teams say they have found alternative synthetic routes that could make oseltamivir--better known by its brand name Tamiflu--easier to produce and perhaps affordable for developing countries too.
More than 65 countries have ordered stockpiles of oseltamivir; Roche, the Swiss company that produces it, is rapidly ramping up production capacity, and generic drug makers have started producing oseltamivir as well (ScienceNOW, 21 December 2005). But it still isn't cheap; at $12 a treatment course, the price cited by Indian generic drug maker Cipla, "developing countries still cannot stockpile in any meaningful way," says Tido von Schoen-Angerer, of Médécins sans Frontières in Berlin.
An easier synthesis could help. In one of the new studies, Harvard chemist and Nobel laureate Elias Corey describes a synthetic pathway that starts with 1,3-butadiene and acrylic acid, "two of the cheapest things you can buy," Corey says; as an additional advantage, the route avoids an intermediate, explosive step in the current production process. A team led by Corey's former student Masakatsu Shibasaki at the University of Tokyo, meanwhile, describes a somewhat longer process that also avoids the expensive starting compounds currently used to make oseltamivir.
Organic chemist K. C. Nicolaou says both pathways have "the potential to evolve into a practical manufactory process," but that Corey's synthesis in particular "is strikingly short and efficient." Yale chemist John Wood, however, says that Shibasaki's synthesis is "actually quite long" and less likely to be of practical use. Whether any new syntheses make it into production plants depends on many other things besides the price of the starting materials, he adds, including the cost of running the reactions, safety, and environmental considerations.
Shibasaki says Roche has shown an interest in his findings; David Reddy, Roche's pandemic task force leader, says that the company is "always looking at new types of technologies" but declined to discuss the two papers.
Corey says he did not patent the findings, so that they might become widely used. "My hope is that this work will save lives, especially in poor countries," he says. Still, other companies couldn't simply start using it, because patents for oseltamivir cover the compound itself, not just the way it is made, says Vid Mohan-Ram, a patent agent with Foley & Lardner LLP in Chicago. But generic drug makers could adopt the process, he says, which could drive their prices down. And an easier production route could also encourage Roche to lower its price.
Midnight...time for my aspirin.
Cold-Eeze works for me and my family EVERY time. No kidding. The zinc fights off the virus.
Same here.
For best results, mix with Grey Goose Vodka.
..or Citadelle gin w/19 herbs, old recipe was originally medicine.
The other way to do it would be to let the body's natural processes take over.
In other words, remember that a fever is not a disease, it is actually a symptom of the body preventing viruses from replicating. When the body temperature goes above 101 degrees viral replication is shut down. This helps the immune system because it cuts down on the number of viruses the immune system will eventually have to erdicate.
But during the first few days of the viral infection the body is preparing the immune system to attack that specific virus, and if you skip the step of letting your body produce a fever then you leave the virus alone to replicate in vast numbers. Then when it has replicated virtually unchecked for a few days it can seriously overwhelm the immune system.
Go to the doctor, get better in 7 days, if you don't, it could take a week!.
Thank you for your post. Reducing a moderate fever is counterproductive! Many people reach for the aspirin or Tylenol at the first sign of illness. That's unwise, for the common-sense reasons you describe.
You'd do better to kick-start your immune system with zinc and echinacea. A convenient, widely-available and palatable form is "Airborne".
Note well that the 1918 flu pandemic occurred just as the wonder-drug aspirin had been introduced. I don't think that's an accident. It got people up and out sooner, encouraging the spread of viruses, and it damped down on their fevers, allowing the virus to more easily overwhelm their defenses.
And let's propose another First Rule Of Flu Pandemics: if you're sick, stay home!
Good points you are making there.
"And let's propose another First Rule Of Flu Pandemics: if you're sick, stay home!"
I couldn't agree more. But one of the worst offenders of that rule is parents. It's a running little joke that Moms have: "you give them tylenol first thing in the morning and then drop them off at daycare or at the bus stop. Their fever stays down for several hours and no one even knows they are sick until much later."
So they go to school with their fever artificially reduced and the virus has a chance to go nuts for awhile, replicating unchecked. So they are actually getting sicker even though their symptoms have abated. Then after a few days of this the virus really gains a foothold and they can wind up even sicker, with something like pneumonia. Not to mention that they are infecting lots of other kids, too.
And this is all because of the Industrial Revolution, where most families are two-income families and parents don't have enough sick time to stay home and take care of the kids when they have a fever. Most of these people are otherwise very responsible adults but when it comes to this they don't see anything wrong with it.
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