I was talking about Prurisol over there. So I put
Post# of 72440
Prurisol is a prodrug (ester) of abacavir. Here's an explanation of what a prodrug is:
"A prodrug is a medication or compound that, after administration, is metabolized (i.e., converted within the body) into a pharmacologically active drug.[1][2] Inactive prodrugs are pharmacologically inactive medications that are metabolized into an active form within the body. Instead of administering a drug directly, a prodrug might be used instead to improve how a medicine is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted (ADME).[3][4] Prodrugs are often designed to improve bioavailability when a drug itself is poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract.[1] A prodrug may be used to improve how selectively the drug interacts with cells or processes that are not its intended target. This reduces adverse or unintended effects of a drug, especially important in treatments like chemotherapy, which can have severe unintended and undesirable side effects."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodrug
Abacavir is the active moiety of Prurisol.
"We are developing our oral anti-psoriasis drug Prurisol under FDA guidance that Prurisol will be eligible for a 505(b)(2) drug approval pathway because the active moiety of Prurisol (abacavir) is the same as that of the marketed drug Ziagen® (abacavir sulfate)." -
http://cellceutix.com/cellceutix-provides-cor...pMBLF.dpuf
Great post on Prurisol and psoriasis. One thing I like to add is the benefits of the 505(b)(2) designation.
1. Relatively low risk because of previous drug approval
2. Lower cost, accelerated development due to fewer studies
3. May qualify for three, five or seven years of market exclusivity
#3 is significant because it can greatly add to the value of Prurisol, if it's approved.
Side effects should be fewer because the daily dosage is less (50mg, 100mg, 200mg of Prurisol vs. 300mg of Ziagen).
The patent was granted on 11/25/2014.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US8895569B2/en?q=prurisol