Halichondrin is enough for everyone

Scientists have synthesized a powerful anti-cancer drug

Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+

After decades of experiments, a group of Japanese and American researchers managed to reproduce a complex natural anti-cancer substance in the laboratory. Now scientists have enough synthetic halichondrin to start clinical studies.

The Chemists’ breakthrough in synthesis advances a potent anti-cancer agent press release is published on the Harvard University website, an article by Kawano et al. A landmark in drug discovery based on complex natural product synthesis is publicly available in the journal Scientific Reports.

In 1992, scientists managed to reproduce a simplified version of the drug, which is still used to treat metastatic breast cancer and liposarcoma.

Now the team has received 11.5 grams of the substance with a purity of 99.81%.

The authors call the results a breakthrough and "an unprecedented achievement of complete synthesis." As the scientists themselves compare, due to the complexity of the structure, they had more than 4 billion. ways to make a mistake.

Preclinical studies have shown that halichondrin is effective against components of the tumor microenvironment that can transform healthy cells into malignant ones. In addition, the compound inhibits the formation of microtubules, which are involved in the division of cancer cells.

Currently in The first phase of clinical trials has started in Japan. The details of the study have not yet been reported.

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