API synthesis

How the medicine is actually made

Published, scalable routes to active pharmaceutical ingredients approved by the US FDA. Every compound is drawn with its SMILES underneath, and its CAS number where one exists, so you can paste it straight into a supplier search. Every route cites the paper or patent it comes from.

FDA-approved APIs only
Scale-up routes
SMILES under every structure
Every route referenced

SitagliptinJanuvia · Merck

Taken by mouth for type 2 diabetes. It blocks the enzyme that breaks down GLP-1, so the body's own signal to release insulin after a meal lasts longer. Sold as the phosphate salt.

DPP-4 inhibitor FDA 2006 CAS 486460-32-6

2 published routes · shortest 3 steps

DomperidoneMotilium · Janssen Pharmaceutica

A prokinetic and anti-sickness medicine for nausea, vomiting and slow gastric emptying. It barely crosses the blood-brain barrier, so it avoids the movement disorders that metoclopramide can cause. Sold over the counter across much of Asia and Europe, including Bangladesh, but it has carried warnings since 2012 for cardiac arrhythmia at doses above 30 mg a day and in people over 60, and it was never approved for sale in the United States.

Peripheral dopamine D₂/D₃ receptor antagonist Marketed from 1979; never approved in the US CAS 57808-66-9

1 published route · shortest 7 steps

EnzalutamideXtandi · Astellas / Pfizer

Taken by mouth for prostate cancer. It blocks the androgen receptor at several points at once, so testosterone can no longer drive the tumour to grow. Enzalutamide is achiral, so there is no enantiomer to separate.

Androgen receptor inhibitor FDA 2012 CAS 915087-33-1

1 published route · shortest 3 steps

OlaparibLynparza · AstraZeneca

Taken by mouth for ovarian, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers that carry a BRCA mutation. It blocks the enzyme a cancer cell uses to patch its own DNA, so the breaks build up until the cell dies.

PARP-1 / PARP-2 inhibitor FDA 2014 CAS 763113-22-0

1 published route · shortest 4 steps

OmeprazolePrilosec / Losec · AstraZeneca

Taken for peptic ulcers, reflux and other conditions caused by too much stomach acid. It shuts down the pump that moves acid into the stomach, and is on the WHO list of essential medicines.

Proton pump inhibitor (H⁺/K⁺-ATPase) FDA 1989 CAS 73590-58-6

1 published route · shortest 2 steps

PantoprazoleProtonix / Pantoloc / Controloc · Byk Gulden, marketed in the United States by Wyeth

A proton pump inhibitor for ulcers, reflux and erosive oesophagitis, sold as the sodium sesquihydrate salt. It is one of the most widely consumed generic medicines in the world, which is why its manufacturing cost has been worked over so thoroughly.

Proton pump inhibitor (H⁺/K⁺-ATPase) FDA 2000 CAS 102625-70-7

1 published route · shortest 3 steps

Open a drug to see its route step by step. Reagents and conditions sit on the arrow with the isolated yield above it, and under every structure is its SMILES and CAS: tap either one to copy it.