Long-sought method to efficiently make complex anticancer compound developed
Thursday, August 1, 2013 - 14:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Scientists have achieved the first efficient chemical synthesis of ingenol, a highly complex, plant-derived compound that has long been of interest to drug developers for its anticancer potential. The achievement will enable scientists to synthesize a wide variety of ingenol derivatives and investigate their therapeutic properties. The achievement also sets the stage for the efficient commercial production of ingenol mebutate, a treatment for actinic keratosis (a common precursor to non-melanoma skin cancer), that at present must be extracted and refined inefficiently from plants.