Swedish scientists find new method for developing safer drugs
Method identifies and characterises potentially toxic products that arise as metabolites of drugs
A research collaboration between the University of Gothenburg and AstraZeneca has resulted in a method that can facilitate the process of developing safe drugs. A pharmaceutical in the body is, in the optimal case, broken down into harmless metabolites that leave the body, for example via the urine. Some pharmaceuticals, however, can be converted into toxic products that may result in serious adverse effects.
In her thesis scientist Tove Johansson Mali’n pre-sents a method in which various chemical systems are used to simulate the metabolism of pharmaceuticals in the body. She has been able to use the method to identify and characterise several potentially toxic products that arise as the metabolites of drugs.
One example is the drug amodiaquine. This was introduced as an antimalarial drug but was withdrawn from the market when it became clear that the drug caused serious adverse effects in the form of liver damage and impaired immune system.
Amodiaquine today is mainly used in the acute phase of malaria, mainly in Africa, where resistance to other antimalarial drugs is widespread. Tove Johansson Mali’n has now managed to identify, with the aid of the method, previously unknown metabolites that may have caused, or contributed to, the adverse effects of amodiaquine.
The work has been performed in collaboration with AstraZeneca and is already attracting international attention. ‘We hope that the method can simplify the work of identifying potentially toxic metabolites at an early stage, and thus facilitate the development of safe drugs,’ she says.