Seven steps to 'billion dollar' drugs
Wednesday, August 15, 2012 - 16:00
in Health & Medicine
(Phys.org) -- A highly efficient method for making prostaglandins -- natural, hormone-like chemicals that have pharmaceutical applications -- is reported by University of Bristol scientists this week in Nature. Some synthetic analogues of prostaglandin are billion dollar drugs; the prostaglandin analogue latanoprost, which is used to treat glaucoma and ocular hypertension, generates approximately $1.6 billion in sales each year.