Chiral Drug
A drug molecule containing one or more chiral centers, whose enantiomers may differ in pharmacological activity or toxicity. The development of chiral drugs requires the targeted synthesis of the active enantiomer in order to avoid adverse side effects.
Timeline (last 90 days)
One configuration of a drug may have a therapeutic effect, while its mirror-image molecule may be completely ineffective or even harmful.
More than half of the small-molecule drugs currently in clinical use contain at least one chiral center.
Among commercially available chiral drugs, more than half need to be used in single-enantiomer form.
The thalidomide (Contergan) incident is a typical case of a chiral drug tragedy, as the left- and right-handed versions of many drugs have completely different biological activities.
Regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) generally require chiral drugs to provide pharmacological and toxicological data for each enantiomer, and single-enantiomer products of many chiral drugs need to reach an ee value of more than 99% to be approved for marketing.
All Facts (5)
One configuration of a drug may have a therapeutic effect, while its mirror-image molecule may be completely ineffective or even harmful.
60%UnverifiedMore than half of the small-molecule drugs currently in clinical use contain at least one chiral center.
50%UnverifiedAmong commercially available chiral drugs, more than half need to be used in single-enantiomer form.
50%UnverifiedThe thalidomide (Contergan) incident is a typical case of a chiral drug tragedy, as the left- and right-handed versions of many drugs have completely different biological activities.
50%UnverifiedRegulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) generally require chiral drugs to provide pharmacological and toxicological data for each enantiomer, and single-enantiomer products of many chiral drugs need to reach an ee value of more than 99% to be approved for marketing.
50%