Printing Customized Drugs
In case you’ve been wondering for a decade or two how it would be possible to make just the right drug for an individual, here’s a possible answer. This piece, based on research at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, reports “printing a series of interconnected reaction vessels that carry out four different chemical reactions involving 12 separate steps, from filtering to evaporating different solutions. By adding different reagents and solvents at the right times and in a precise order, they were able to convert simple, widely available starting compounds into a muscle relaxant called baclofen. And by designing reactionware to carry out different chemical reactions with different reagents, they produced other medicines, including an anticonvulsant and a drug to fight ulcers and acid reflux.” Call it “digital chemistry,” if you will. MORE
Image Credit: University of Glasgow