PREVIOUSLY: « Spam! Spam! Spam! et cetera  Search PubChem for Molecular Structures »


Tamiflu Molecular Structure

Posted in Chemistry at 12:14 pm by David Bradley -- 2 Comments; add your comment

molecular structure of TamifluRoche is allegedly struggling to keep up with unprecedented demand for its antiviral Tamiflu in light of the massive media scaremongering that is going on globally thanks to the emergence of the H5N1 strain of bird flu. Taiwan already intends to stockpile a generic version of the drug oseltamivir with or without Roche’s permission. Currently, oseltamivir is synthesised from shikimic acid, which is obtained from the star anise fruit. The total synthesis takes at least ten steps, but chemists are working on simpler approaches.

That aside, Nature just reported a case of a girl with a strain of H5N1 that is resistant to this drug. If prevalence is high, then the media will have even more scare-mongering to do.

Newsfeed

2 Comments »

  1. shima famini said,

    September 2, 2008 at 1:44 am

    what is the amino acid that is used in the production of tamiflu??


  2. David Bradley said,

    September 2, 2008 at 7:36 am

    Shikimic acid


Comments: What are your thoughts on this? Leave a comment

You can use <b>, <i> and add a link or two using <a href="">. All comments are checked for spam before they appear.

Related Science Articles: