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A polymer as an active ingredient in a drug – the development of Copolymer 1 as a drug against multiple sclerosis
Author(s) -
Sela Michael
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.239
Subject(s) - drug , multiple sclerosis , copolymer , active ingredient , polymer , tyrosine , pharmacology , medicine , combinatorial chemistry , chemistry , materials science , biochemistry , organic chemistry , immunology
A polymer of four amino acids, L ‐lysine, L ‐glutamic acid, L ‐tyrosine and L ‐alanine, prepared from their respective N‐carboxy‐amino acid anhydrides, has been approved by the regulatory agencies in the United States and forty other countries as a drug/vaccine against the exacerbating‐remitting type of multiple sclerosis. The drug, Copolymer 1 (Cop1), is called Copaxone by the industry. It is a specific drug for multiple sclerosis and is not active against other autoimmune diseases. Thus, it serves as a prototype of specific drugs/vaccines against autoimmune diseases. In the case of Cop1, this is due to its immunological cross‐reaction with the myelin basic protein, a substance in the myelin sheath of the brain that seems to be the main cause of the autoimmune phenomenon in multiple sclerosis. From the point of view of polymer chemistry, it is of interest that Copaxone is the first drug of a polymeric nature approved for treatment of a disease. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.