So, you all must know by now that 3D printing intrigues me.  I was lucky enough to be introduced to the concept when we were provided a CAD/CAM   (computer aided design, computer aided manufacturing) device so that we could help a client sell its specialty materials.   It was our job to design products for their potential customers that would wed them to our client’s wares.

(Actually, these customers already had the products in mind.  We refined the design and customized it [often, improving it] so that our client would be locked in as these potential customers’ prime vendor.)

Well, now, Dr. Marty Burke (University of Illinois- Champaign-Urbana) has founded a new firm that will revolutionize how we produce complex (smaller) molecular compounds of medical import.  OK.  That’s a play on words- because the firm Dr. Burke (PhD in Chemistry AND an MD) founded is called Revolution Medicines.

And, as is true for many an engineering and scientific breakthrough, this was not the initial intent of his research.  (The concept of serendipity- how an educated mind recognizes that s/he has happened upon something unexpected via happenstance or luck- and capitalizes on it.  I discussed how Dr. Don Stookey made Corning rich with his Corningware via serendipity here.)   No, Marty Burke was studying antifungal compounds, when he recognized these class of molecules could all be developed from a select choice of small chemical building blocks.

Burke’s cofounders include Mark Goldsmith [(MD, PhD), who is a serial entrepreneur associated with Genencor and Constellation Pharmaceuticals] and David Pompliano [(PhD), who is a member of Third Rock Ventures, the group that anted up some $ 45 million to capitalize Revolution].  No surprise- Revolution’s first compound is a broad-spectrum antifungal compound that amplifies amphotericin B.

Revolution is continuing the path set by Dr. Burke.  The process chooses various targets and produces those via a process similar to 3D printing (additive manufacturing) for various applications.  The basic building block is MIDA boronate– along with silica gel, which holds the various compounds in place so the desired reaction could occur.  They call this concept RevBlocks^TM; the haloboronic acid (via the ligand N-methyliminodiacetic acid- MIDA) couples to the desired compound, which protects it (via a Suzuki-Miyaura covalent carbon-carbon bond forming reaction).   The compound is then “deprotected” and released for use.

Actually, this is not truly 3D printing- it’s more like flow chemistry.  But, their ‘wrinkle’ seems to skip the manual purification process (to strip out the produced compound).   By adding THF (tetrahydrafuran), the boronates are released from the complex.

If you read the article in Science (authored by Drs. J Li, S.G. Ballmer, E.P. Gillis, S. Fujii, M.J. Schmidt, A.M Palazzolo, J.W. Lehrman, G.F. Morehouse, and Marty Burke, all of Illinois), it becomes clear that there is still plenty more work to be done to perfect this process.  Steve Ballmer (no, not the Microsoft guru) has left Illinois to become one of the 12 folks marshalling the development process.   But, the firm says they have the framework for some 14 classes that will use the same RevBlocks process.

Let’s hope they get this perfected soon- because a faster, cheaper drug delivery process should save us all money.

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