FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 13, 2004.

A new technical paper from ESA describes how the company has developed a unique electrochemistry based approach to answer many questions about a compound's metabolic behaviour.

Expanding the capabilities of Drug Metabolism laboratories

A new technical paper from ESA describes how the company has developed a unique electrochemistry based approach to answer many questions about a compound's metabolic behaviour.

Today, many drug-metabolism groups are under pressure to provide quick, accurate assessments of the metabolic fate of an increasingly large number of compounds. This analysis is complicated by the widespread requirement for sophisticated LCMS analysis in many drug metabolism assays, the difficult-to-analyse nature of some combinatorially generated compounds and the unpredictable nature of some drug metabolism assays.

The new technical paper illustrates how ESA electrochemical systems take advantage of the relationship between oxidation / reduction chemistry and oxidative drug metabolism (Phase I metabolism). By integrating the ESA electrochemical system with existing LCMS set-ups the paper describes how researchers have been able to synthesise key metabolites and ionise poorly ionising compounds and metabolites, to enhance their detection by MS analysis. These capabilities can produce a large saving in both time and resources and can greatly improve the efficiency and output of a drug metabolism laboratory. Further the paper illustrates how ESA electrochemical systems have been used to identify and study reactive intermediates in oxidative drug metabolism reactions and determine a compound's adduct formation potential, to provide further insight into a compound's metabolic fate.

The paper concludes by taking advantage of the unique capabilities of ESA's coulometric electrochemical systems, researchers in drug metabolism can expand their capabilities and the amount of information available, to accurately assess a compound's suitability for further development as a drug. For a copy of this technical paper please contact ESA.

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