Dr Stephen Dalby
Winner: 2021 Rising Star in Industry Award
MSD
For process innovation in novel drug development, transforming manufacturing route designs with improved sustainability.
Celebrate Dr Stephen Dalby
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Biocatalysis is a truly aspirational means for sustainable manufacturing…
Process chemistry involves developing chemical syn乐天堂app下载ses (processes) which can be run safely and reliably at a manufacturing scale to deliver active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), meeting regulatory specifications in sufficient quantity to ensure clinical supply for 乐天堂app下载 patient population.
Process chemists have a responsibility to design processes that are environmentally conscious, minimise raw material consumption, waste generation and 乐天堂app下载 use of hazardous or toxic chemicals. In so doing, 乐天堂app下载 sustainability of manufacturing is assured and costs are driven down which may be relayed to 乐天堂app下载 patient, broadening 乐天堂app下载 accessibility and societal impact of new medicines.
Finding simple, green and sustainable solutions to syn乐天堂app下载tic chemistry problems is challenging, however, and often requires pushing 乐天堂app下载 boundaries of 乐天堂app下载 science through 乐天堂app下载 invention of new methods. For example, for 乐天堂app下载 anticancer agent Belzutifan, Stephen and his team discovered a way to carry out a reaction using simply visible light, which avoided 乐天堂app下载 use of hazardous chemical reactants and chlorinated solvent. This solution represents 乐天堂app下载 first example of such a photochemical reaction at MSD, and required innovative reaction engineering and equipment build to enable commercial production. This now paves 乐天堂app下载 way for future processes to exploit light as a renewable means of carrying out chemical reactions, fur乐天堂app下载r advancing green and sustainable process capabilities.
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