Molecular Sculptors
 |
Description
Book Introduction
tvN Story [Unexpected Adult] Topic Scientist Baek Seung-man
The history and hidden stories of new drug development, told by a chemist at the forefront of pharmaceutical development.
Chemists who develop new drugs are modern-day alchemists who sculpt molecules.
Just as Michelangelo carved the Pietà from marble, molecular sculptors create shapes by adding or removing atoms like carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen to compounds and linking larger molecules together.
But the ultimate goal of molecular sculptors isn't beauty, but to make their sculpted compounds stick to bad proteins and render them nonfunctional.
People usually call these compounds drugs.
"Molecular Sculptors" is a book written by a scientist working at the forefront of new drug development, detailing the process of creating new drugs.
The author, a medicinal chemist well-versed in new drug development methods and the latest trends, and a popular lecturer on the history of drugs for pharmacy students, introduces the past and present of new drug development through engaging storytelling in this book.
The author uses intuitive illustrations and metaphors to explain the process by which chemists exquisitely sculpt and connect molecules to save lives and create value.
Readers of this book will be awed by the intense struggles of the molecular sculptors behind each pill every time they take it.
The history and hidden stories of new drug development, told by a chemist at the forefront of pharmaceutical development.
Chemists who develop new drugs are modern-day alchemists who sculpt molecules.
Just as Michelangelo carved the Pietà from marble, molecular sculptors create shapes by adding or removing atoms like carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen to compounds and linking larger molecules together.
But the ultimate goal of molecular sculptors isn't beauty, but to make their sculpted compounds stick to bad proteins and render them nonfunctional.
People usually call these compounds drugs.
"Molecular Sculptors" is a book written by a scientist working at the forefront of new drug development, detailing the process of creating new drugs.
The author, a medicinal chemist well-versed in new drug development methods and the latest trends, and a popular lecturer on the history of drugs for pharmacy students, introduces the past and present of new drug development through engaging storytelling in this book.
The author uses intuitive illustrations and metaphors to explain the process by which chemists exquisitely sculpt and connect molecules to save lives and create value.
Readers of this book will be awed by the intense struggles of the molecular sculptors behind each pill every time they take it.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
Introduction
Sculpting Molecules / Sculptures Unseen Even Under a Microscope / Molecular Art that Controls Life / The Transformation of an Alchemist
Chapter 1.
Find it by luck
Frankenstein's Monster / Alchemy Becomes Science / Living and Non-living Things / The Unstoppable Longing for Superstardom / 19th Century Youth Ventures / 19th Century Chemical Companies / 19th Century Medicines and Tylenol / Luck That Comes After Preparation / Further Reading: The Center of Life
Chapter 2.
imitate nature
A tearful effort to improve quality / A big newcomer found through an audition / Finding answers in plants / An eco-friendly chemical plant / Road slaughter / People who find answers in animals / How to survive a fight / Lizard venom / Going deeper: Chemists' competition to carve natural products
Chapter 3.
Studying people
Immortal Cells and Artificial Blood / The War on Cancer / The Indomitable Scientist / The Fateful Boss / The Woman Who Changed Science / The 20th Century Black Death / Failed Promise / AIDS Treatment / COVID-19 Treatment / Read More: How to Cure AIDS
Chapter 4.
Create matter
Is it necessary to imitate nature? / A master of chemistry / White powder / The king of sleeping pills / In search of a better sleeping pill / The truth pill / The death pill / The star's choice / Another risk / A tricky newcomer / A splendid return / Multiple myeloma / Late discovery of the mechanism / Works leaving the sculptor's hands / Further reading: Thalidomide and the development of chemistry
Chapter 5.
How do we make medicine now?
Chemical reactions are simpler than you think / Separation processes are more tedious than you think / Lazy chemists / Poor chemists / Mothers of invention / Chemical reactions made simpler / Mechanization of simple tasks / How to win the lottery / Unexpected failures / Target proteins / Compound banks / From lead compounds to clinical trials / Going further: Two innovations and carcinogens in stomach medicine
Chapter 6.
The Future of mRNA and Molecular Fragments
Can't we make drugs without chemists? / mRNA vaccines / A difference of one carbon / A difference smaller than one carbon / The Curico paradigm / The fastest vaccine ever made / Beyond the limits / Going further: Artificial intelligence and new drug development
Sculpting Molecules / Sculptures Unseen Even Under a Microscope / Molecular Art that Controls Life / The Transformation of an Alchemist
Chapter 1.
Find it by luck
Frankenstein's Monster / Alchemy Becomes Science / Living and Non-living Things / The Unstoppable Longing for Superstardom / 19th Century Youth Ventures / 19th Century Chemical Companies / 19th Century Medicines and Tylenol / Luck That Comes After Preparation / Further Reading: The Center of Life
Chapter 2.
imitate nature
A tearful effort to improve quality / A big newcomer found through an audition / Finding answers in plants / An eco-friendly chemical plant / Road slaughter / People who find answers in animals / How to survive a fight / Lizard venom / Going deeper: Chemists' competition to carve natural products
Chapter 3.
Studying people
Immortal Cells and Artificial Blood / The War on Cancer / The Indomitable Scientist / The Fateful Boss / The Woman Who Changed Science / The 20th Century Black Death / Failed Promise / AIDS Treatment / COVID-19 Treatment / Read More: How to Cure AIDS
Chapter 4.
Create matter
Is it necessary to imitate nature? / A master of chemistry / White powder / The king of sleeping pills / In search of a better sleeping pill / The truth pill / The death pill / The star's choice / Another risk / A tricky newcomer / A splendid return / Multiple myeloma / Late discovery of the mechanism / Works leaving the sculptor's hands / Further reading: Thalidomide and the development of chemistry
Chapter 5.
How do we make medicine now?
Chemical reactions are simpler than you think / Separation processes are more tedious than you think / Lazy chemists / Poor chemists / Mothers of invention / Chemical reactions made simpler / Mechanization of simple tasks / How to win the lottery / Unexpected failures / Target proteins / Compound banks / From lead compounds to clinical trials / Going further: Two innovations and carcinogens in stomach medicine
Chapter 6.
The Future of mRNA and Molecular Fragments
Can't we make drugs without chemists? / mRNA vaccines / A difference of one carbon / A difference smaller than one carbon / The Curico paradigm / The fastest vaccine ever made / Beyond the limits / Going further: Artificial intelligence and new drug development
Detailed image
Into the book
I also do sculptures.
Of course, it is very different from Michelangelo's sculptures.
What I sculpt is a compound.
It completes an appropriate shape by adding or removing atoms such as carbon, oxygen, or hydrogen to a given substance, or by connecting other large molecules.
The ultimate goal of the sculptures I create is not beauty.
The goal is to attach to bad proteins and render them unable to function.
People usually call these compounds drugs.
But the essence is similar.
Just as Michelangelo traveled the marble fields near Rome to select the best raw stone and entered his workshop with his well-crafted carving tools, I diligently browse the websites of reagent companies to create a good medicine and stand before my laboratory with my flask and reagents.
And every day, we work hard to refine the molecules.
I am a molecular sculptor.
--- p.9
The molecular sculptors discussed in this book are chemists who create drugs.
They are usually called medicinal chemists.
What exactly happened over the years to enable alchemists to transform into molecular sculptors? Following the journey of these molecular sculptors will naturally reveal how medicines are developed.
You can also understand how the basic strategies for new drug development have changed.
This includes medicines that were developed by accident, as well as cases where medicines that should not have been developed were developed and caused chaos in the world.
And there are also cases where chemical technology has made remarkable advances through painstaking efforts to create medicines.
This book will also cover the friendships chemists have with biologists and naturalists, some of their few friends.
From Tylenol to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, countless pharmaceuticals remain as good examples.
--- p.19
Perkin studied hard.
They tried to produce quinine by changing the temperature, reagents, solvents, and later even the starting materials.
But it was impossible from the start.
I just kept failing.
Then, Perkin had a unique experience.
The fact that it can't be synthesized is the same.
If it doesn't work, you have to do it again.
To do that, you need to wash the flask first.
Because flasks are precious.
But while washing the contents of the flask to reuse it, Perkin sees an unexpected beauty.
First, he rinsed the flask with water, of course.
It's the basics of washing dishes.
However, the black residue did not wash away and remained thick in the flask.
Oil stains that do not come off even when soaked in water.
I needed detergent.
In the mid-19th century, when there were no decent detergents available, he used alcohol, which was the custom at the time.
Alcohol washes away even the most stubborn grease.
But in the oil stains that were being washed away, Perkin observed an unexpectedly vivid purple color.
The oil stain, which was thought to be black, diluted and revealed its original, brilliant purple color.
--- p.35
The answer to this high-level question came unexpectedly from the American Gila monster.
Also known as the Gila monster, this lizard is native to the desert regions of the American Southwest, where food is often difficult to find.
In severe cases, you may only need to eat three times a year.
Not three times a day, but three times a year.
Intermittent fasting is trendy, but this is extreme.
Ultimately, the poisonous lizard evolved an unusual way to adapt to its environment: it developed the ability to freely regulate its blood sugar levels.
They have developed their own glucose regulation system to survive year-round, using nutrients obtained from the food that comes in occasionally.
This lizard was regulating its nutrient levels by producing its own GLP-1, a postprandial hormone.
--- p.96
While the research team was creating hundreds of compounds and screening for activity, they focused on a substance called '2,6-diaminopurine', a structural analogue of adenine, one of the key molecules that make up DNA.
This substance was relatively effective in killing bacteria.
What was particularly encouraging was that when this substance was used to inhibit fungal growth and then adenine was added again, the fungus began to grow.
There was clear evidence that this substance and adenine compete with each other.
It turned out that Hitchings' hypothesis was correct.
However, when tested on non-bacterial animals, this substance showed severe bone marrow toxicity, making further development impossible.
Although it was experimentally confirmed that it was unusually effective at killing viruses at the time, its toxicity was a serious obstacle.
A substance was needed that was safe for animals but highly toxic to bacteria.
It's paradoxical.
--- p.128
Since the early 20th century, substances purely developed by chemists have begun to be released as medicines.
Although the number was still smaller than that of medicines developed based on natural products, it was definitely increasing.
These drugs were not compounds developed by systematic molecular design to match the shape of the enzyme.
Back when little was known about the function and shape of enzymes, chemists sculpted molecules by rule of thumb.
However, these attempts surprisingly worked and drugs were often developed.
Many of these were accidental discoveries, instances of serendipity.
However, this accidentally discovered substance became the starting point for the development of new medicines and was transformed into a better substance.
It was also a matter of pride for chemists not to rely solely on chance.
Of course, it is very different from Michelangelo's sculptures.
What I sculpt is a compound.
It completes an appropriate shape by adding or removing atoms such as carbon, oxygen, or hydrogen to a given substance, or by connecting other large molecules.
The ultimate goal of the sculptures I create is not beauty.
The goal is to attach to bad proteins and render them unable to function.
People usually call these compounds drugs.
But the essence is similar.
Just as Michelangelo traveled the marble fields near Rome to select the best raw stone and entered his workshop with his well-crafted carving tools, I diligently browse the websites of reagent companies to create a good medicine and stand before my laboratory with my flask and reagents.
And every day, we work hard to refine the molecules.
I am a molecular sculptor.
--- p.9
The molecular sculptors discussed in this book are chemists who create drugs.
They are usually called medicinal chemists.
What exactly happened over the years to enable alchemists to transform into molecular sculptors? Following the journey of these molecular sculptors will naturally reveal how medicines are developed.
You can also understand how the basic strategies for new drug development have changed.
This includes medicines that were developed by accident, as well as cases where medicines that should not have been developed were developed and caused chaos in the world.
And there are also cases where chemical technology has made remarkable advances through painstaking efforts to create medicines.
This book will also cover the friendships chemists have with biologists and naturalists, some of their few friends.
From Tylenol to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, countless pharmaceuticals remain as good examples.
--- p.19
Perkin studied hard.
They tried to produce quinine by changing the temperature, reagents, solvents, and later even the starting materials.
But it was impossible from the start.
I just kept failing.
Then, Perkin had a unique experience.
The fact that it can't be synthesized is the same.
If it doesn't work, you have to do it again.
To do that, you need to wash the flask first.
Because flasks are precious.
But while washing the contents of the flask to reuse it, Perkin sees an unexpected beauty.
First, he rinsed the flask with water, of course.
It's the basics of washing dishes.
However, the black residue did not wash away and remained thick in the flask.
Oil stains that do not come off even when soaked in water.
I needed detergent.
In the mid-19th century, when there were no decent detergents available, he used alcohol, which was the custom at the time.
Alcohol washes away even the most stubborn grease.
But in the oil stains that were being washed away, Perkin observed an unexpectedly vivid purple color.
The oil stain, which was thought to be black, diluted and revealed its original, brilliant purple color.
--- p.35
The answer to this high-level question came unexpectedly from the American Gila monster.
Also known as the Gila monster, this lizard is native to the desert regions of the American Southwest, where food is often difficult to find.
In severe cases, you may only need to eat three times a year.
Not three times a day, but three times a year.
Intermittent fasting is trendy, but this is extreme.
Ultimately, the poisonous lizard evolved an unusual way to adapt to its environment: it developed the ability to freely regulate its blood sugar levels.
They have developed their own glucose regulation system to survive year-round, using nutrients obtained from the food that comes in occasionally.
This lizard was regulating its nutrient levels by producing its own GLP-1, a postprandial hormone.
--- p.96
While the research team was creating hundreds of compounds and screening for activity, they focused on a substance called '2,6-diaminopurine', a structural analogue of adenine, one of the key molecules that make up DNA.
This substance was relatively effective in killing bacteria.
What was particularly encouraging was that when this substance was used to inhibit fungal growth and then adenine was added again, the fungus began to grow.
There was clear evidence that this substance and adenine compete with each other.
It turned out that Hitchings' hypothesis was correct.
However, when tested on non-bacterial animals, this substance showed severe bone marrow toxicity, making further development impossible.
Although it was experimentally confirmed that it was unusually effective at killing viruses at the time, its toxicity was a serious obstacle.
A substance was needed that was safe for animals but highly toxic to bacteria.
It's paradoxical.
--- p.128
Since the early 20th century, substances purely developed by chemists have begun to be released as medicines.
Although the number was still smaller than that of medicines developed based on natural products, it was definitely increasing.
These drugs were not compounds developed by systematic molecular design to match the shape of the enzyme.
Back when little was known about the function and shape of enzymes, chemists sculpted molecules by rule of thumb.
However, these attempts surprisingly worked and drugs were often developed.
Many of these were accidental discoveries, instances of serendipity.
However, this accidentally discovered substance became the starting point for the development of new medicines and was transformed into a better substance.
It was also a matter of pride for chemists not to rely solely on chance.
--- p.161
Publisher's Review
The world of molecular art that saves lives and creates miracles
The story of molecular sculptors struggling to develop new drugs!
○ How did alchemists who pursued gold transform into chemists who developed medicine?
○ Why was Tylenol, a synonym for antipyretic analgesic, discontinued in the early stages of development?
○ How did the hormone of the American dragon become an obesity treatment?
How did the development of AIDS treatments accelerate the development of COVID-19 treatments?
○ How did thalidomide, the biggest black mark in the medical world that led to the birth of deformed children, make a glorious comeback?
As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, people became more interested in medicine.
To mitigate the damage caused by COVID-19, various measures such as social distancing, mask-wearing, and working from home were implemented, but ultimately, it was antiviral treatments and vaccines that had the power to end the pandemic.
Because of this, the world's attention was focused on the pharmaceutical companies' race to develop new drugs, and the stock market fluctuated depending on the results of clinical trials.
The names of previously unfamiliar pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca have become engraved in the public's minds, and the characteristics, pros, and cons of the vaccines developed by each company have become known in detail.
However, the specifics of how the New Testament is made remain a difficult area for the public to understand.
Why are new drugs so difficult to develop? How do we identify potential drug candidates? What process do these candidates undergo to become the drugs we buy over the counter? How can we maximize the efficacy of a drug while minimizing side effects? Behind all these questions lie molecular sculptors, silently sculpting and refining molecules to save lives and create new value.
Chemists who develop new drugs are modern-day alchemists who sculpt molecules.
Just as Michelangelo carved the Pietà from marble, molecular sculptors create shapes by adding or removing atoms such as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen to compounds and connecting them to form larger molecules.
But the ultimate goal of molecular sculptors isn't beauty, but to make their sculpted compounds stick to bad proteins and render them nonfunctional.
People usually call these compounds drugs.
“There are countless molecular sculptors in this world,
“The materials they create are making a huge impact on patients.”
"Molecular Sculptors" is a book written by a scientist working at the forefront of new drug development, detailing the process of creating new drugs.
Professor Seungman Baek, the author, is a medicinal chemist well-versed in new drug development methods and the latest trends, and also teaches popular general education lectures on the history of medicine to pharmacy students.
Based on these experiences, the author presents the history of new drug development from the past to the present through an engaging storytelling.
"Molecular Sculptors" traces the origins of chemists' interest in drug development, beginning with the story of alchemy.
Early chemists relied on chance or drew inspiration from animals and plants to create new drugs.
For example, Tylenol, a synonym for antipyretic analgesic, experienced several fortuitous events during its development.
Acetanilide, the precursor to Tylenol, was discovered to have an antipyretic effect when the wrong drug was accidentally delivered during the process of dispensing a prescription.
4-Acetaminophenol, which was developed from acetanilide, had excellent antipyretic and analgesic effects, but was not developed as a drug due to fatal side effects at the time of development.
However, it was later discovered that there was an error in the experiment that caused side effects, and today's Tylenol was born.
The development of exenatide, a diabetes treatment, illustrates how an animal-derived substance can be developed into a drug.
Scientists have discovered that the Gila dragon, a species native to the deserts of the American Southwest, has the ability to regulate its blood sugar levels at will.
This lizard was surviving in the desert where food was scarce by using its own unique blood sugar-regulating hormone called exenatide.
Molecular sculptors realized that exenatide had a similar effect in the human body, but lasted longer than existing diabetes treatments, and developed it into a drug.
Going further, chemists have modified exenatide to increase satiety and ultimately promote weight loss by exploiting its ability to act on the digestive tract to signal fullness.
Research by molecular sculptors, starting with the hormones of the poisonous dragon, led to Saxenda, which currently holds the number one market share in the obesity treatment market.
As chemistry advanced and the secrets of the human body were revealed, chemists began to develop drugs using more sophisticated and sophisticated technologies than those obtained from nature.
The history of the development of sleeping pills, starting with barbiturates developed in the 19th century, illustrates this process.
Molecular sculptors have spent hundreds of years sculpting and refining molecules to create safe, side-effect-free sleeping pills.
The history of barbiturates, phenobarbital, butobarbital, and pentobarbital gave birth to thalidomide, the worst black history in the medical world.
Thalidomide, which had strong sleeping and sedative effects, was found to be effective in reducing morning sickness and was taken by many pregnant women.
Thalidomide was banned after it was discovered that it caused fetal malformations, but this was after more than 12,000 malformed babies had already been born worldwide.
And thalidomide has made a spectacular comeback, now being used as an ingredient in various treatments, including blood cancer treatments.
As the mechanism of action of thalidomide, which causes birth defects in newborns, was discovered, a method was developed to reverse this action and treat the infamous multiple myeloma.
It is an irony of history that dangerous substances have been transformed to cure even more dangerous diseases.
Another example of the irony of pharmaceutical history is the process by which COVID-19 treatments were developed.
Since the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA in 1953, attempts have been made to develop drugs that target the DNA of cancer cells or the RNA of viruses by utilizing knowledge of the structure of DNA.
Zidovudine was initially developed as a compound to treat cancer.
The research team had hoped that zidovudine would be able to prevent cancer cell differentiation because it interferes with the DNA replication process, but it was considered a failed compound because the effect was less than expected.
However, Zidovudine, which had been sleeping in a laboratory freezer, made a comeback when it was developed as a treatment for AIDS, the great epidemic of the end of the century.
It was discovered that zidovudine inhibits the reverse transcriptase of the AIDS virus.
And the experience of developing an AIDS treatment by targeting the virus's reverse transcriptase was fully utilized in the development of a COVID-19 treatment.
This is a result that no one could have predicted when Jidobudine was first synthesized.
Following the tumultuous journey of these molecular sculptors, we experience the world of new drug development, a world where meticulous planning and unwavering perseverance ultimately pay off, alongside moments of joy and unexpected events that baffle scientists.
How do we find new drug candidates?
How do molecular sculptors sculpt invisible molecules?
The author doesn't just entertain by revealing the history and backstories of pharmaceutical development, but also uses his expertise as a medicinal chemist to explain how molecular sculptors manipulate molecules.
Molecules are so small that they cannot be seen even with a microscope.
Sculptors carve marble with chisels and hammers, but molecules cannot be carved in that way.
How do molecular sculptors sculpt invisible molecules? It's through chemical reactions.
Chemists predict the structure of a molecule that could become a drug and plan the reaction pathways that would lead to that structure.
It's not just about getting the desired substance; it's about devising the optimal route to get a cheap and safe drug.
This is where molecular sculptors unleash their creativity, as evidenced by the remarkable advances in chemical technology that have emerged from the painstaking efforts to create pharmaceuticals.
The author skillfully explains chemical knowledge that may seem difficult, using illustrations and analogies that help with intuitive understanding.
By following the author's storytelling and chemical knowledge explanations, you will naturally learn how medicines are developed.
You can also understand how the basic strategies for new drug development have changed.
The latter part of the book covers recent trends in new drug development.
We also present the achievements of chemists in collaboration with biologists, naturalists, and artificial intelligence developers.
Finally, we explore how cutting-edge medicinal chemistry technologies were used in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine and how they are transforming future drug development processes.
Readers of this book will be awed by the intense struggles of the molecular sculptors behind each pill every time they take it.
The story of molecular sculptors struggling to develop new drugs!
○ How did alchemists who pursued gold transform into chemists who developed medicine?
○ Why was Tylenol, a synonym for antipyretic analgesic, discontinued in the early stages of development?
○ How did the hormone of the American dragon become an obesity treatment?
How did the development of AIDS treatments accelerate the development of COVID-19 treatments?
○ How did thalidomide, the biggest black mark in the medical world that led to the birth of deformed children, make a glorious comeback?
As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, people became more interested in medicine.
To mitigate the damage caused by COVID-19, various measures such as social distancing, mask-wearing, and working from home were implemented, but ultimately, it was antiviral treatments and vaccines that had the power to end the pandemic.
Because of this, the world's attention was focused on the pharmaceutical companies' race to develop new drugs, and the stock market fluctuated depending on the results of clinical trials.
The names of previously unfamiliar pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca have become engraved in the public's minds, and the characteristics, pros, and cons of the vaccines developed by each company have become known in detail.
However, the specifics of how the New Testament is made remain a difficult area for the public to understand.
Why are new drugs so difficult to develop? How do we identify potential drug candidates? What process do these candidates undergo to become the drugs we buy over the counter? How can we maximize the efficacy of a drug while minimizing side effects? Behind all these questions lie molecular sculptors, silently sculpting and refining molecules to save lives and create new value.
Chemists who develop new drugs are modern-day alchemists who sculpt molecules.
Just as Michelangelo carved the Pietà from marble, molecular sculptors create shapes by adding or removing atoms such as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen to compounds and connecting them to form larger molecules.
But the ultimate goal of molecular sculptors isn't beauty, but to make their sculpted compounds stick to bad proteins and render them nonfunctional.
People usually call these compounds drugs.
“There are countless molecular sculptors in this world,
“The materials they create are making a huge impact on patients.”
"Molecular Sculptors" is a book written by a scientist working at the forefront of new drug development, detailing the process of creating new drugs.
Professor Seungman Baek, the author, is a medicinal chemist well-versed in new drug development methods and the latest trends, and also teaches popular general education lectures on the history of medicine to pharmacy students.
Based on these experiences, the author presents the history of new drug development from the past to the present through an engaging storytelling.
"Molecular Sculptors" traces the origins of chemists' interest in drug development, beginning with the story of alchemy.
Early chemists relied on chance or drew inspiration from animals and plants to create new drugs.
For example, Tylenol, a synonym for antipyretic analgesic, experienced several fortuitous events during its development.
Acetanilide, the precursor to Tylenol, was discovered to have an antipyretic effect when the wrong drug was accidentally delivered during the process of dispensing a prescription.
4-Acetaminophenol, which was developed from acetanilide, had excellent antipyretic and analgesic effects, but was not developed as a drug due to fatal side effects at the time of development.
However, it was later discovered that there was an error in the experiment that caused side effects, and today's Tylenol was born.
The development of exenatide, a diabetes treatment, illustrates how an animal-derived substance can be developed into a drug.
Scientists have discovered that the Gila dragon, a species native to the deserts of the American Southwest, has the ability to regulate its blood sugar levels at will.
This lizard was surviving in the desert where food was scarce by using its own unique blood sugar-regulating hormone called exenatide.
Molecular sculptors realized that exenatide had a similar effect in the human body, but lasted longer than existing diabetes treatments, and developed it into a drug.
Going further, chemists have modified exenatide to increase satiety and ultimately promote weight loss by exploiting its ability to act on the digestive tract to signal fullness.
Research by molecular sculptors, starting with the hormones of the poisonous dragon, led to Saxenda, which currently holds the number one market share in the obesity treatment market.
As chemistry advanced and the secrets of the human body were revealed, chemists began to develop drugs using more sophisticated and sophisticated technologies than those obtained from nature.
The history of the development of sleeping pills, starting with barbiturates developed in the 19th century, illustrates this process.
Molecular sculptors have spent hundreds of years sculpting and refining molecules to create safe, side-effect-free sleeping pills.
The history of barbiturates, phenobarbital, butobarbital, and pentobarbital gave birth to thalidomide, the worst black history in the medical world.
Thalidomide, which had strong sleeping and sedative effects, was found to be effective in reducing morning sickness and was taken by many pregnant women.
Thalidomide was banned after it was discovered that it caused fetal malformations, but this was after more than 12,000 malformed babies had already been born worldwide.
And thalidomide has made a spectacular comeback, now being used as an ingredient in various treatments, including blood cancer treatments.
As the mechanism of action of thalidomide, which causes birth defects in newborns, was discovered, a method was developed to reverse this action and treat the infamous multiple myeloma.
It is an irony of history that dangerous substances have been transformed to cure even more dangerous diseases.
Another example of the irony of pharmaceutical history is the process by which COVID-19 treatments were developed.
Since the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA in 1953, attempts have been made to develop drugs that target the DNA of cancer cells or the RNA of viruses by utilizing knowledge of the structure of DNA.
Zidovudine was initially developed as a compound to treat cancer.
The research team had hoped that zidovudine would be able to prevent cancer cell differentiation because it interferes with the DNA replication process, but it was considered a failed compound because the effect was less than expected.
However, Zidovudine, which had been sleeping in a laboratory freezer, made a comeback when it was developed as a treatment for AIDS, the great epidemic of the end of the century.
It was discovered that zidovudine inhibits the reverse transcriptase of the AIDS virus.
And the experience of developing an AIDS treatment by targeting the virus's reverse transcriptase was fully utilized in the development of a COVID-19 treatment.
This is a result that no one could have predicted when Jidobudine was first synthesized.
Following the tumultuous journey of these molecular sculptors, we experience the world of new drug development, a world where meticulous planning and unwavering perseverance ultimately pay off, alongside moments of joy and unexpected events that baffle scientists.
How do we find new drug candidates?
How do molecular sculptors sculpt invisible molecules?
The author doesn't just entertain by revealing the history and backstories of pharmaceutical development, but also uses his expertise as a medicinal chemist to explain how molecular sculptors manipulate molecules.
Molecules are so small that they cannot be seen even with a microscope.
Sculptors carve marble with chisels and hammers, but molecules cannot be carved in that way.
How do molecular sculptors sculpt invisible molecules? It's through chemical reactions.
Chemists predict the structure of a molecule that could become a drug and plan the reaction pathways that would lead to that structure.
It's not just about getting the desired substance; it's about devising the optimal route to get a cheap and safe drug.
This is where molecular sculptors unleash their creativity, as evidenced by the remarkable advances in chemical technology that have emerged from the painstaking efforts to create pharmaceuticals.
The author skillfully explains chemical knowledge that may seem difficult, using illustrations and analogies that help with intuitive understanding.
By following the author's storytelling and chemical knowledge explanations, you will naturally learn how medicines are developed.
You can also understand how the basic strategies for new drug development have changed.
The latter part of the book covers recent trends in new drug development.
We also present the achievements of chemists in collaboration with biologists, naturalists, and artificial intelligence developers.
Finally, we explore how cutting-edge medicinal chemistry technologies were used in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine and how they are transforming future drug development processes.
Readers of this book will be awed by the intense struggles of the molecular sculptors behind each pill every time they take it.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: April 26, 2023
- Page count, weight, size: 340 pages | 556g | 148*215*20mm
- ISBN13: 9791164052059
- ISBN10: 1164052055
You may also like
카테고리
korean
korean
![ELLE 엘르 스페셜 에디션 A형 : 12월 [2025]](http://librairie.coreenne.fr/cdn/shop/files/b8e27a3de6c9538896439686c6b0e8fb.jpg?v=1766436872&width=3840)
