Derek Lowe's commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry. An editorially independent blog from the publishers of Science Translational Medicine. All content is Derek’s own, and he does not in any way speak for his employer.
You know, normally when you start combining interesting or reactive functional groups in the same molecule, you end up with something that’s worse than before. Would I pick up a flask containing a compound that has both a perchloryl ester and a geminal di-azide? I would not, and neither should you, should someone ever be… Read More
This is a neat article at Bloomberg about the production of botulinum toxin (BTX, aka Botox). This is a drug that has some rather special handling involved: A baby-aspirin-size amount of powdered toxin is enough to make the global supply of Botox for a year. That little bit is derived from a larger primary source… Read More
OK, this one’s a fairly easy procedure, which you will find way back in Volume 6 of the ever-entertaining Inorganic Syntheses. You’ll need a tube furnace, though, and you may or may not have one of those sitting around. You’ll also need to soften up the glass tube that goes into it, enough to make… Read More
From the “Discretion is the Better Part of Valor” files, here’s Dietmar Seyferth looking back on his chemistry career: For my research advisor I chose Professor Rochow in inorganic chemistry. . .Rochow had joined Harvard some years earlier after a distinguished research career in organosilicon chemistry at the General Electric Co. Read More
I mentioned the fearsome memoirs of Max Gergel here, but not many people know that he wrote another volume. “The Ageless Gergel”, out of print for who knows how long, is available here in PDF form. I have to note that it’s even more rambling and formless than “Excuse Me Sir, Would You Like to… Read More
The research scientists in a drug company often don’t mesh well with the marketing people (two cultures, and and all that). For an entertaining look at why this might be the case, try this from BNET Pharma, and just shake your head in amazement. . . Read More
Ever hear of tunicates? They’re these little sea squirt creatures that sit around day and night, filtering sea water for food. The weird thing about them is that although they have blood, it isn’t red, but in many species a Mr. Spock shade of bluish green. That’s because they don’t concentrate iron there, but rather… Read More
The natural products topic (which I’ll return to in a couple of days) has me starting up a companion to the “Things I Won’t Work With” category. This is the first in the new category of “Things I’m Glad I Don’t Do”. I mentioned ciguatoxin, and I notice that one of the comments to that… Read More
