Building blocks for new medications: the University of Graz is seeking a technology partner

The opiod fentanyl, which is used in anaesthesia and in the treatment of acute and chronic pain, is one of the most important drugs made with piperidin-4-ones. However, these intermediates are also essential for the manufacture of numerous other drugs with a wide range of medical applications.

“The synthesis technology we have developed gives us access to variants of piperidin-4-ones that cannot be obtained using traditional reaction pathways”, explains Werner Seebacher.

“What is special about our piperidin-4-ones is that they can be further modified as required. This opens up a range of new therapeutic possibilities”, says Seebacher, emphasising the significance of this technology, for which a European patent is now pending.

Further research is needed to discover exactly what those possibilities are. The University of Graz is currently looking for an industrial partner to produce these promising molecular components on a large scale and to press ahead with their development into new substances.

For further details see
https://static.uni-graz.at/fileadmin/forschen/dokumente/technologietransfer/Tech…

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Werner Seebacher
Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Graz
Tel.: +43 (0)316 380-5383; 8648
E-mail: w.seebacher@uni-graz.at