JUPITER, FL–Chemists at the Scripps Research Institute have found a way to simplify making synthetic versions of natural compounds that could help get new drugs and products based on them to market by cutting the cost of their production.

The Scripps researcher, Phil Baran and Scripps Research Kellogg School of Science and Technology graduate students Thomas Maimone and Jeremy Richter took an unorthodox approach to synthetic chemistry that eliminates a procedure formerly thought necessary.

Use of the techniques the group has developed could therefore lead to substantially reduced production costs for natural products. Bioactive compounds found in marine and terrestrial organisms often have anti-cancer, anti-bacterial and other desireable qualities. The cost of synthesizing the compounds can be prohibitive, though.

This is a critical concern, as identification of a reasonably economic means of production for marine and other natural products is typically one of the most challenging hurdles in a potential drug’s commercial development. An overly complex and expensive synthesis can even slow or halt the development of an otherwise promising drug candidate.

Beyond economic ramifications, Baran hopes the research will offer additional benefits to the drug discovery field. Many pharmaceutical companies’ potential drug pipelines are drying up, leading some to suggest that interest in natural products should be renewed. A range of drugs from aspirin to the widely used cancer treatment Taxol has been discovered in nature, but the complexity of producing natural products has made some companies reluctant to focus on them.

“There is this far-ranging and damaging perception that natural products are too complex to be used in a drug discovery setting despite their overwhelming track record in medicine,” says Baran. “I think if our work has helped in even a small way to revive the use of natural products, then we’ve served our purpose.”

This work, published in the March 22 Journal Nature, was supported by The Scripps Research Institute, Amgen, AstraZeneca, the Beckman Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, DuPont, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Roche, the Searle Scholarship Fund, the Sloan Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

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