Side-effects-free malaria medication proved possible
Credit: Ton Engwerda
By Idha Valeur
Side effects of the commonly used malaria drug, Mefloquine, includes insomnia, abnormal dreams, anxiety and depression and psychosis. The severe side effects can last for years after you’ve taken the medicine.
It is known that the medicine is made up of two different forms of molecule, one contains the active substance and the other one is the cause of the side effects. Previously, researchers have been aware of these two forms, but been unable to separate the two in the process of production. However, chemists from Radboud University, the Netherlands, have published the solution to the problem in the scientific journal, Angewandte Chemie.
Ton Engwerda, Chemist and PhD students, said, ‘The production of Mefloquine creates a left-handed and right-handed molecule; the left-handed molecule is the mirror image of the right-hand molecule. While they may look so very similar, they are not the same and have a different effect on the human body. The right-handed molecule fights the malaria parasites, but the left-handed molecule affects the central nervous system.’
It has proved to be difficult to separate the Mefloquine molecules because they form crystals with a mixture of both right-handed and left-handed molecules, whereas other substances form crystals of one or the other. Professor of Solid-State Chemistry, Elias Vlieg, has worked towards being able to manipulate crystal growth for several years. ‘It has now been ten years since it was discovered how to turn a mixture of crystals with left-handed or right-handed molecules into only one of the two forms. This is done by stirring a slurry of crystals and glass beads till you are left with just one type of crystal. But this technique does not work with Mefloquine,’ Vlieg said.
Instead, the chemists created a substance similar to the malaria medication with the correct properties. They then split up the normal grinding process into two steps, where they pumped the mixtures between two vessels, as well as stirring.
After 18 months, Engwerda successfully extracted only the good crystals from the molecule. The chemists have demonstrated that it is possible to separate the molecules, but it is depending on the manufacturer, whether or not it will lead to a change in production.
‘We have shown that it is possible. It is a proof of principle. We have developed a method that other scientists and manufacturers are more than welcome to use, including for other drugs providing similar problems,’ Vlieg said.
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