On the COVID pill and other process chemistry tales

Bringing Chemistry to Life

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Process chemists are the silent heroes of modern pharmaceutical sciences. They take a drug molecule coming out of medicinal chemistry research and make sense of its chemical synthesis. With tight deadlines they often must completely reinvent chemical syntheses to meet strict efficiency and cost requirements necessary to move drugs to commercial production. It’s a challenging job that requires discipline and pragmatism, but a certain dose of chemical creativity at the same time.

Patrick Fier, from Merck, represents the perfect profile of a great process chemist. He makes the most of the incredible resources and the culture of innovation available at Merck. His chemistry is creative and intriguing, he shows that unique mix of disruptive thinking and disciplined determination that is needed to design state-of-the-art chemical syntheses. And his talent gave him the opportunity to lead the development of Molnupiravir, the so-called COVID pill, one of the most promising antivirals used in severe Coronavirus cases.

In this unique episode we have the rare opportunity to get to know a chemist who really played a key role in helping address the COVID pandemic.

Keywords: process chemistry, COVID, molnupiravir, COVID pill, pharmaceutical development, drug, antivirals, C-H functionalization, sulphonamides, phenol synthesis, medicinal chemistry, Merck Sharp & Dome

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About Your Host

Born and raised in Italy, Paolo Braiuca, a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences, co-founded a startup company after conducting research in biocatalysis in Italy and the UK. He transitioned from R&D to business development, working in commercial, product management, and marketing roles in the specialty chemicals, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical markets in Germany and the UK. A busy father of four, if asked, he’ll call himself a “maker” at heart and enjoys inventing electronic devices in his free time.