The findings represent a critical first step in a new era of drug manufacturing aimed at creating a circular medicine economy

In a breakthrough that holds significant potential for turning waste into value as part of a circular medicine economy, researchers used computers to help guide the synthesis of important chemicals from unused material. Analyses suggest it is possible to synthesize approximately 300 critical drugs and farming chemicals from 200-plus waste compounds, according to the new study published today in the journal Nature by scientists at On Demand Pharmaceuticals and Allchemy. 

Working in collaboration with Allchemy, ODP scientists validated several of the identified synthesis routes on our Pharmacy on Demand (PoD)^TM platform, using adulterated streams to generate essential chemicals urgently needed to care for seriously ill Covid-19 patients. 

Broad adoption of computerized waste-to-valuable algorithms can accelerate the productive reuse of chemicals that would otherwise incur storage or disposal costs or even pose environmental hazards. This study alone examined nearly 1 billion molecules and billions of routes to synthesize them. 

The study “Computer-designed repurposing of chemical wastes into drugs” appears in the April 28 edition of Nature.