Does anyone want me to make Daraprim/Pyrimethamine on video?

Still, I think it's definitely worth it.

Roger Lee

Now another company is promising to sell the medication for $1.

Mark Rose

Damn right it would be good, even if the hype dies down this would be an excellent case study in chemistry.

I'd say it would be pretty cool. And the videos not related to the news can wait as we can wait for these videos. But as it may be a controversial subject, i would put - one way or another - a watermark on this video.

Oh man. That'd be pretty cool.

ninja_padeiro

This is why chemistry is so fascinating! I would definitely like to see this.

Dan Thomas

I'd definitely be interested. It'd be an interesting series of intermediate steps at least and a peek at the work pharmaceutical chemists do.

Thea Hutchings

Yup I'd be interested... especially in the validation of purity and how that data is interpreted with confidence.

I still think this kind of drug synthesis would make an incredible video topic, since it's so far from the current band of covered topics: Even if it weren't this specific thing, various other setups would be really intriguing.

Ariamaki

That would be great! Go for it

I would like to see it. It has been a while since you posted something really complex.

jMe4505

I am interested to see the chemistry involved to make medicines... obviously the specifics vary a lot between different different medicines, but yes, I would be interested to see this particular one and I think it would be helpful to the world in general. I defer to your judgement on the subject about how difficult and time consuming it would be and also the opinion of other patrons.

Martel DuVigneaud

Yes, as has been said, a good shift to the organic. The intermediate steps with the required chemical conditions and purification, would all be very interesting. Cheers, Mark

I'm in the don't worry about it camp, the other two ideas you listed sound way better.

evan

I think it would be an interesting departure from inorganic chemistry stuff you usually do.

I think it would be an interesting synthesis. I took a look at the molecule and it has some pretty interesting functional groups. A chlorobenzene group with a carbon-carbon bond with a pyrimidine that has two additional amine groups and an ethyl group. There are some different ways to approach this which makes for interesting video. It can be a great teaching to tool for benzene chemistry, possible ring formation reactions, and the nature of drug synthesis in general. I like thinking of how a molecule can be made by breaking portions of it apart. I'm assuming there's an established synthesis of Daraprim/Pyrimethamine with these yields, etc., but since you be using domestically available materials, it will be a bit trickier but it can be done. I wonder what starting materials you are going to use and the yields that you get for each step of your reactions. If you to do perform this synthesis, I'll be looking forward it. Good luck.

Sounds interesting to me too. Complex multi-phase syntheses I think are an interesting topic because you can cover a lot of ground with them.

Jrandom Bob

Sounds interesting to me.

Andrew Bent

I would keep track of your costs (or estimate) so that we can get a sense of 'cost' even at the old $13 price--considering that the rest of the world has it at less than a dollar... So, it would be interesting to see how expensive it realistically is.

I think it would be nice to have one or two outline videos, with details on the process without actually getting in too deep. However I feel it's a waste of time compared to your other videos, because even if we amateur chemists try to replicate the drug, it's too risky to take it. Meanwhile other videos get delayed, which may contain more practical information for the amateur chemist.

I'd love to see it, mostly due to the number of drugs i'm on and always wonder how they get from a to b

Christopher

Teaching chemistry can be considered too "instructional". The same argument goes for teaching computer science: Sure, if we had kept networking technology a secret we wouldn't suffer from hackers, crackers and viruses, but there wouldn't be an internet either.

It would be nice to have the insight into the process.

I second the opinion that it would provide insite into what it acctually takes to produce these medications. As a nurse I am interested in learning as much as possible about the chemicals I administer to my patients.

While I doubt any individual needing the pill would want to invest the money and time to produce it themselves if it's truly that complicated and requires sophisticated process, I'd be worried about it being too "instructional" for budding basement labs looking to undercut the supplier, which would cause more harm than good with unregulated and non-standardized production. I'm normally gung-ho about scientific exploration but I'm on the fence here.

Jesse Krizik

I think it would be interesting - but I do have concerns about showing this kind of synthesis because people could get it wrong and hurt themselves. As someone learning chemistry though, it would be particularly interesting to see the thought process and techniques for assuring / verifying purity and vetting side reactions.

Very interesting! Go for it! The whole 'It would encourage people...' is just patronizing and quite frankly detrimental for scientific education. If we enforced that line of reasoning we would still be in the stone ages. Everything can be misused. what would prevent someone to eg. watch a medical video of a surgeon and 'feel encouraged' to start performing surgery?

I think there'd be value simply in showing that pharmaceutical companies don't mix unicorn and pixie dust together and then charge a million dollars per kilogram for it. We know it intellectually, but actually seeing it makes a world of difference. There'd be tremendous value in demonstrating just how artificial the price is or is not. You can talk about the chemistry and the costs of purity/accuracy, and the practical concerns that these companies have to face and let the audience come to their own conclusions. I've heard the excuses of these companies, I'd love to see some of what they do in action and how well it all holds up. You'd have to be careful for legal reasons, I'd love more variety to the kinds of topics you talk about. Chemistry has real world challenges!

For the same reason as you mention; the company will probably buckle under the weight of the internet and stop selling it for so much in the meantime. I love nurdrage for stuff that I could/would literally do at home -- and manufacturing drugs is not on that hypothetical list.

Jamie F

I'm going to go with "no". While I'm sure you could do it, I think it would end up encouraging people with less skill to try it themselves and end up poisoning themselves or something.

jason black

I've always wanted to see a more involved chemical production video to show the finer points of being a chemist, especially if it's for a good cause. I whole heartedly support this.

Sam Zhou

This sounds awesome! I'd totally watch that video.

I think it would be really interesting! I've always wondered what goes into the synthesis of complex chemicals.

Mark Rose

I also found this article on this issue. It seems they plan to lower the price, and the later part of the article has comments from the CEO. <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/drug-ceo-will-lower-price-daraprim-after-outrage-n431926" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/drug-ceo-will-lower-price-daraprim-after-outrage-n431926</a>

LFTRnow

I think it would be interesting, but to state the obvious - you might want to add to your usual warnings that if anyone were to attempt this to not use it internally for various reasons (purity, dosage control, etc).

LFTRnow

I really think it may not be a good idea. It may only encourage folks to think its possible to produce the drug in a DIY fashion and try to stick it to the man. Though it may be a really interesting synthesis ( as I fondly remember my O-Chem days) I think your time and resources are best invested on other ventures.

I think the series would be beneficial to all. Drugs are a blackbox to most people; they just sort of appear on the market. It would be good to show just what all happens to synthesize a drug, not to mention all the research it takes to figure out *WHAT* to synthesize. Go for it!

Danielmiester

As someone who was extremely pissed off on the greediness of the bastard, I think it would be pretty neat.

Chris Muncy

I think it would be very interesting to see a pyrimethamine prep. Then again, I was studying to be a pharmaceutical researcher before becoming a teacher.

Kaisai Morihito

As long as there's no reason not to, I'd like to see it and perhaps see what sorts of yields you get.

Simon Bitdiddle