LAWRENCE, Kan. (WIBW) -- A Drug therapy that was recently authorized for emergency-use protocol to fight COVID-19 contains a crucial ingredient from the University of Kansas, says the school.
Remdesivir was the collaborative work between pharmaceutical chemists at the KU School of Pharmacy in 1990, says the university, while graduates continue to hold positions at firms producing and distributing the therapy to people throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Valentino Stella, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus, and Roger Rajewski, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry research professor developed Captisol, an ingredient to help make the drug soluble, at KU says a release from the school.
We use Captisol as an excipient to enhance the aqueous solubility and chemical stability of remdesivir,” says KU alumnus Reza Oliyai, senior vice president for pharmaceutical and biological operations at Gilead, the manufacturer of remdesivir. “All of us at Gilead are committed to doing everything we can to help address the global COVID-19 pandemic. The work of Professor Valentino Stella and also Dr. Roger Rajewski.at the University of Kansas has played a key role in the development of the remdesivir product that is being evaluated now for the treatment of COVID-19 infection.”
Stella says that the invention was needed for cancer and other therapies replacing surfactant-based ingredients that were leading to complications for patients.
“A lot of drugs don’t dissolve in water, or they’re chemically unstable because of their physical and chemical properties,” says Stella. “So, if you want to give a drug by intravenous injection, it’s got to be in solution. You cannot inject particles into your vein that get trapped by the lung and you end up with a lung embolism. Also, if you take the drug orally with a tablet, they’ve got to dissolve in the gastrointestinal tract. If a drug is extremely insoluble, it’s not absorbed and doesn’t dissolve while it’s going down the GI tract. So, there’s a need for solubilizers to modify the properties of a drug.”
The two scientists thought of Captisol over drinks one night and ironed out the path to develop a less toxic ingredient for cancer drugs. At the time Stella was Rajewski’s professor says the release.
The ingredient was made to make drugs soluble while not dangerously interacting with cholesterol in the body says Stella. The pair filed for a patent and the ingredient was eventually used in the formulation of Kyprolis, Vfend IV, Noxafil Injection, Zulresso, Evomela, Nexterone and now Remdesivir says the release.
“It’s gratifying to know the results of research I conducted in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry here at KU are playing a role in the formulation of remdesivir for COVID-19 patients,” says Rajewski. “While I was fortunate to be involved in the invention of Captisol more than 30 years ago, the development of Captisol for human use was the culmination of efforts by many individuals, both at CyDex and then Ligand. Likewise, the ingenuity of scientists such as those at Gilead leading to drugs like remdesivir is humbling. The KU community should be proud to be part of the team that makes such treatments possible.”
Stella trained many of the students that now hold jobs at firms manufacturing the ingredient says KU. However, Stella says the most gratifying part of his hand in the invention is the contributions to pharmaceutical chemistry and the benefits they have to human health.
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June 08, 2020 at 11:38PM
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KU has heavy hand in creation of Remdesivir - WIBW
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