DeuteRx

Formed in 2012, DeuteRx is a virtual biopharmaceutical company focused on improving racemic drugs for patients. Our team has pioneered the use of Deuterium-Enabled Chiral Switching (DECS) to isolate a single stereoisomer from a mixture of interconverting stereoisomers. DECS is a revolutionary strategy that stabilizes the preferred stereoisomer in existing drugs sold as racemic mixtures to reduce deleterious side-effects and improve efficacy. Numerous drugs are still developed and marketed as racemic mixtures because their stereoisomers chemically interconvert in vivo. The development of the single, preferred stereoisomer from the parent racemic drug, also known as a 'chiral switch,' often leads to drugs with superior therapeutic properties. Replacing the exchangeable hydrogen at the chiral center with deuterium enables stabilization and characterization of the single, preferred stereoisomer with a new composition of matter patent protection and an expedited path to market. We have applied DECS to a wide range of clinical therapies, including deuterium-stabilized S-bupropion, for neurological disorders (NTY-184 at Neuromity in 2021), deuterium-stabilized R-pioglitazone for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) (PXL065, acquired by Poxel in 2018) and deuterium-stabilized S-lenalidomide (DRX-053, acquired by Celgene in 2012).