One of the main factors driving prices in pharmaceuticals, such as cholesterol-lowering drugs and antibiotics, is the cost of production and materials. Researchers at the University of Maine Forest Bioproducts Research Institute (FBRI) have discovered a sustainable method to produce the key ingredient in a broad range of pharmaceuticals, which could help address high prescription drug costs in the U.S.
”The competing processes either lead to low yields, use hazardous starting materials or are just generally costly because of the chosen production scheme and low output,” said Schwartz. ”The commercial process is expensive because you have to add the chiral center to the molecule, which doesn’t occur naturally with most petrochemicals.”
Not only does this new approach result in significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions, but the production costs are also reduced by more than 60% compared to current methods that use petroleum-derived feedstocks. The process can also yield other commercially important chemicals, such as glycolic acid (GA), which presents additional economic opportunities.
Source: Phys.org
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