A new derivative detected in accelerated ageing of artesunate-amodiaquine fixed dose combination tablets.

An unknown impurity detected in small amounts during the heat treatment of artesunate-amodiaquine bilayer tablets was purified by semipreparative HPLC and identified by MS and NMR as the tetrahydrofuranyl acetate-rearranged derivative of anhydrodihydroartemisinin. When anhydrodihydroartemisinin was treated with a Fe(II) salt in acetonitrile-water solution, the same product was generated, together with an isomeric 2-deoxy-4α-hydroxy-anhydrodihydroartemisinin derivative, as expected from the usual homolytic radical opening of the endoperoxide bond previously described for other artemisinin derivatives.

Positioning, labelling and control of medical information: artesunate strategy and Arsumax development story.

Sanofi decided, some years ago, to help developing a molecule of a new type called artesunate, a semisynthetic derivative from Qinghaosu, or artemisinine, a sesquiterpenic lactone extracted from the leaves of a world wide spread plant: Artemisia annua. After having signed a secrecy agreement with a local pharmaceutical company in China manufacturing artesunate, Sanofi started, in 1993, the assessment of all the data transmitted as well as the plant involved in the artesunate tablet manufacturing. As conclusions of the whole audit performed on this project were judged satisfactory, Sanofi signed a cooperation agreement with this Chinese pharmaceutical firm in order to be allowed to start further development work required to guarantee quality and safety of artesunate 50 mg tablets called Arsumax, and to complete a registration dossier acceptable for Health Authorities in French-speaking Africa.

Transport and hydrolysis of peptides in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The transport and hydrolysis of several radioactive di- and tripeptides in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied. A peptide-transport-deficient mutant isolated on the basis of its resistance to nikkomycin Z lost most of its capacity to take up di- and tripeptides. The transport kinetics of [14C]methionylglycine, [14C]methionylsarcosine and [3H]nikkomycin Z indicated that peptide transport is not dependent on intracellular hydrolysis.