The American Chemical Society (ACS) held its 241st National Meeting in Anaheim, California, on March 27–31. The technical program featured over 9,000 papers. Attendance was 14,023, down 22.4% from the spring 2010 conference held in San Francisco, California, which had the second-largest attendance ever.

IBO attended a presentation by Simon J. Teague, PhD, principal scientist, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, at AstraZeneca UK. Dr. Teague will soon join the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases in Singapore as a senior investigator. In his talk, Dr. Teague sought to answer the question of which drug development projects are most likely to lead a drug to the market. In his analysis of new drugs that came to market in 2008, he found the following indicators of a successful project: a simple and quick-to-measure endpoint in the clinic; a relevant and reasonable throughput animal model; a long-term, committed project champion; and organizational stability over the time scales applicable to drug discovery/development. He argued that biological drugs are not more innovative, but that the nomenclature used for biologics (therapeutic indication) makes the innovation gap less obvious than small molecules (receptor).

His suggestions for fixing the pharmaceutical industry included managing expectations, referring to “toxic levels of hype” that often surround new approaches. Secondly, he advocated for a better understanding and improvement of research organizations and how they work. In addition, he argued that “drug hunters,” often the project champions, must be understood and accommodated. He advocated that the blockbuster model be abandoned and that research address a broader range of therapeutic areas. Finally, he supported the improvement of translational medicine and clinical trials.

The number of exhibitors at the show totaled 259, down 4.4% from last year. Instrument makers, particularly microscopy, informatics and chromatography providers, were well represented on the exhibit floor. NT-MDT introduced the Nanoeducator II atomic force microscope, the second generation of a product introduced six year ago. Designed for educational markets, the new system features a tungsten wire probe like the original, but is updated by adding a cantilever so that it can also be used by more advanced students. The system is priced at around $40,000.

Knauer displayed the PLATINblue HPLC/UHPLC system, which is available in the US through ICON Scientific. It features a wide flow range due to exchangeable pump heads and can operate as a UHPLC, either as a binary high-pressure gradient or quaternary low-pressure gradient system. Basic maintenance can be done by the end-user.

PicoSpin showed its 45 MHz benchtop NMR, which weighs only 11 lb. (see IBO 12/15/10). It features a permanent magnet, eliminating the need for liquid cryogen. It utilizes a capillary device cartridge and requires only 20 µL of sample. Resolution is better than 100 ppb. The system is priced at $18,000 and is targeted to the education market.

Syrris launched the Asia modular flow chemistry system, which offers three configurations each for manual flow chemistry, automated flow chemistry or process optimization (see IBO 3/31/11). Pressure ranges from 0 bar to 20 bar, and flow rates are 1 µL/min. to 10 mL/min. per pump. Production volume is micrograms to kilograms. The two-channel pump allows for continuous production mode. Prices are from $30,000–$150,000. Syrris also displayed its new Globe jacketed reactor platform for process chemistry. It accommodates vessels between 50 mL and 5 L without changing the clamp, lid, circulator or stand. It offers a temperature range of -90°C to 250°C and pressure of 50 mbar to 3 bar. The system is priced at $15,000. For microwave peptide synthesis, Biotage introduced the Initiator Peptide Workstation, featuring a reusable, snap-top vial for manual synthesis.

Advanced Chemistry Development (see page 9) introduced the ACD/Spectrus Processor, the first in a series of staged releases of its Spectrus platform. Designed for synthetic and process chemists, the Processor is a desktop platform that organizes and processes analytical data from multiple techniques and provides structural confirmation. The product will ship this summer.