Archive for January 2nd, 2017

Ritonavir: a look at a famous example of conformational polymorphism.

Monday, January 2nd, 2017

Here is an inside peek at another one of Derek Lowe’s 250 milestones in chemistry, the polymorphism of Ritonavir.[1] The story in a nutshell concerns one of a pharma company’s worst nightmares; a drug which has been successfully brought to market unexpectedly “changes” after a few years on market to a less effective form (or to use the drug term, formulation). This can happen via a phenomenon known as polymorphism, where the crystalline structure of a molecule can have more than one form.[2],[3],[4] In this case, form I was formulated into soluble tablets for oral intake. During later manufacturing, a new less-soluble form appeared and “within weeks this new polymorph began to appear throughout both the bulk drug and formulation areas[1]

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References

  1. J. Bauer, S. Spanton, R. Henry, J. Quick, W. Dziki, W. Porter, and J. Morris, "Array", Pharmaceutical Research, vol. 18, pp. 859-866, 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1011052932607
  2. J.D. Dunitz, and J. Bernstein, "Disappearing Polymorphs", Accounts of Chemical Research, vol. 28, pp. 193-200, 1995. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ar00052a005
  3. D. Bučar, R.W. Lancaster, and J. Bernstein, "Disappearing Polymorphs Revisited", Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 54, pp. 6972-6993, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201410356
  4. G.J.O. Beran, I.J. Sugden, C. Greenwell, D.H. Bowskill, C.C. Pantelides, and C.S. Adjiman, "How many more polymorphs of ROY remain undiscovered", Chemical Science, vol. 13, pp. 1288-1297, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/D1SC06074K