NEWS OF TH E WEEK
DOUBTS ABOUT UNCLICK REACTION MECHANOCHEMISTRY: Author says data
manipulated, but conclusions stand
S
CIENCE HAS PUBLISHED an editorial expres-
sion of concern about a high-profile polymer mechanochemistry paper that appeared in the journal in 2011. The report, “Unclicking the Click: Mechanically Facilitated 1,3-Dipolar Cycloreversions” (DOI: 10.1126/science.1207934), was authored by Christopher W. Bielawski, Johnathan N. Brantley, and Kelly M. Wiggins of the University of Texas, Austin. In the paper, the chemists reported they could mechanically pull apart a 1,2,3-triazole—the product of the most popular of the so-called click reactions. Neither thermal nor photochemical conditions are able to spur this cycloreversion, but Bielawski and his students reported that they were able to pull the triazole apart by tethering it between two poly(methyl acrylate) chains and then subjecting it to ultrasound. Science Editor-in-Chief Marcia McNutt writes that in response to a reader e-mail, Bielawski revisited the original data. “In over 50% of the figure parts, the authors deemed the data unreliable due to uncertainty
BIOTECH FUTURE LOOKING ROSY BIO CONVENTION: Mood is buoyant
pharmaceutical market to more than $1 trillion by 2020. Merck Serono was among the biopharmaceutical firms at BIO with products on the threshold of approval. TH-302, a drug for soft-tissue sarcoma that Merck Serono developed in partnership with Threshold Pharmaceuticals, entered Phase III clinical trials last year. Second Genome, which focuses on microbiome proteomics, exemplified the firms at the event that are moving biotech drug research beyond genomics. “There is definite excitement afoot,” Mohan S. Iyer, the firm’s chief business officer, told C&EN. “Pharma is realizing that a new look through the microbiome lens could lead to a whole new set of tractable, druggable targets.” The conference’s two keynote luncheon speakers, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, spoke with some authority on the topic of risk. Clinton also mentioned a conversation with a woman— the creator of a small biotech firm—who told her that women are not made to feel welcome in the industry. “She asked me if I would say that today,” Clinton said at the end of her onstage interview with BIO CEO James Greenwood. “So, I just said it.”—RICK MULLIN BIO
at industry’s annual conference
regarding the origin of data or the manner in which the data were processed,” McNutt notes. Bielawski tells C&EN that a former group member, whom he declined to identify, came forward and admitted to manipulating data in the Science paper. Bielawski says that his lab “repeated the experiments in question and found that the conclusions of the report were unchanged.” He has submitted a correction to Science to address the concerns. Neither Brantley O O nor Wiggins could be reached for N N comment. The University of PMA O O N Texas, Austin, is conducting an investigation. The 2011 Science paper was important for Ultrasound Cu catalyst the field of polymer mechanochemisO O try because it showed how mechanical forces can open new + PMA O O reaction pathways using a N3 popular reaction, comments Rint P. Sijbesma, a mechano- PMA = poly(methyl acrylate) chemistry expert at Eindhoven University of Technology, in the Netherlands. “That there is now significant doubt as to the veracity of the results will have consequences for the understanding of this specific reaction. But the general principles of mechanochemically induced reactivity and the unique nature of mechanically facilitated reaction pathways stand firm because they are based on a much larger body of experiments with a wide range of reactions.”—BETHANY HALFORD
IGH ABOVE THE FLIGHT DECK of the U.S.S.
H
Midway, aboard which the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) hosted a welcome party for its annual convention in San Diego last Monday, “Rosie” was written large in red lights. The effect accompanied a dance routine featuring women dressed as Rosie the Riveter, but the reference to the adjective “rosy” was both overt and apropos. The biopharmaceutical sector is performing strongly this year, and forecasts are for solid growth to at least 2020. A spike in initial public stock offerings, advances in late-stage product development, the introduction of new products, and a shift in corporate emphasis to specialty pharmaceuticals suggested to attendees that the business is maturing. A report released at the convention by England-based market analysts Evaluate sees biologics accounting for more than 50% of the top 100 drugs on the market by 2020. The firm anticipates 5% growth for the overall
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JUNE 30, 2014
Rosie the Riveters danced above the flight deck of the U.S.S. Midway at the BIO welcome soiree.
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