Checkpoint inhibitors like pembrolizumab (Keytruda) have revolutionized treatment for many late-stage cancer patients, including Jimmy Carter. Recently, Keytruda stunned the world again with efficacy in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, the leading cancer killer. Here’s a summary of its recent successes and the surprising path Keytruda took through two acquisitions and the Merck “out-license” list. …
Knochel’s group has shown that you can fluorinate Grignard reagents without decomposition via single-electron transfer reactivity (SET) by a simple solvent switch from THF to DCM. A common way to prepare aryl fluorides is through lithium-halogen exchange, followed by trapping with N-fluorosulfonimide (NFSI). This isn’t always viable, as the alkyllithium reagents used in the exchange …
Gleevec (imatinib) was the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of cancer and one of the first products to emerge from “rational drug design.” It’s invention changed chronic myeloid leukemia from an incurable death sentence to a manageable disease. Here’s a look back on the tremendous value it’s created over the last two …