Flow Chemistry at Pfizer - Application to the EML4-ALK Program

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SELECTBIO

Despite the significant growth of interest in Flow Chemistry, it is often challenging to integrate this into research programs. This has been reflected in the utility and uptake of this technology within Pfizer. Early adoption focused on the development of reactions in Flow, which would otherwise be difficult to carry out in batch in the research setting for reasons such as safety. Although, this endeavour serves to expand diversity in terms of the chemical space that can be explored within a program, it can be difficult to justify the resource committed to do this based on the short term visible return on investment. As such, there has been a shift to look to judiciously implement Flow solutions to critical problems within the research portfolio, thus displaying the tangible value of the technology. This will be illustrated within this talk with examples being provided of both approaches including the development in Flow of the key step of the synthesis of a current Oncology clinical candidate. This example is unique to our portfolio in that it not only removes several bottlenecks of running the reaction in batch, but also in that the identical reaction fails in batch without additional protecting groups employed.