Using Smaller Molecules To Produce More Affordable Drugs

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND, QLD, AUSTRALIA. The rising cost of medicines in the market was one of the main reasons why a group of researchers in Australia developed a new technique which could eventually lead to low-cost medicines in the near future.

In the new technique that has just been developed, the large proteins used for medicines are reduced to small molecules that are just as suitable to use for the same type of drugs. Using smaller molecules mean smaller and much affordable version of the complement protein C3a. C3a is a powerful human inflammatory protein and is mainly used to help defend against diseases.

Normally, a milligram of C3a costs around a thousand dollars to commercially manufacture. At the same time, it easily degrades in a matter of minutes in blood which makes it even more expensive and unstable to be conveniently used in medicines.

With the new method, the small molecules retain the exact potent activities of C3a. Only this time, it is much cheaper and even stable enough to use for drugs. The developers were also able to create a method to control the shape and at the same time, they were also able to reproduce the function and key components of the protein which makes it effective in fighting diseases.

The team of researchers is led by Professor David Fairlie and Dr Robert Reid from University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB). Professor David Fairlie also said that the success of their study has opened up exciting new avenues for chemists to downsize valuable human proteins and obtain affordable new diagnostics and drugs for the detection and treatment of human diseases.