LETTERS
Curing the ρ ha r ma blues
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S A RETIRED MEDICINAL CHEMIST
who has experience both as an aca demic and industrial scientist, I feel compelled to comment on the crescendo of indictments of the pharmaceutical re search process that I read almost every where, including in C&EN (Dec. 6,2004, page 3). The problem leading to the drought of innovation can be tracedfromthe 1960s to the present, during which time manage ment passedfromchemistry to the "new bi ology" Since management rests in the hands of biologists and M.D.s, the blame for the current state of intellectual bankruptcy rests squarely on their shoulders. Prior to this transition, pharmaceutical research was conducted by highly quali fied Ph.D.s working in the laboratory To day, biological targets are chosen by a few supposedly inspired biologists and then represented in the laboratory by relative ly simple screens that are run as a routine by less trained individuals. The choice of targets often represents a naive focus on one step in a complex disease process (for example, kinase inhibitors). Chemists are driven to mechanize or ganic synthesis and mass-produce simple compounds that represent no significant challenge to their highly specialized skills. Such an approach obviously won't succeed in finding effective treatments for com plex diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and viral infections, or for degenerative dis eases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The power of inspired observation is absent in the process, and laboratory investigation is neither intensive nor broad enough. Such single-neuron hypotheses often fail to ad dress tissue-specific, genetic, and sex dif ferences in physiology with respect to the target molecule (for example, COX 1 ver sus COX 2), and are often negated by re sistant mutations in the target molecules (as with kinase inhibitors). The power ofbiology in modern drug re search is evident in many successful ther apies, such as erythropoietin, β-interferon, targeted antibodies, certain AIDS drugs, and so on. However, these therapies are very costly and cannot solely sustain the revenue stream of large companies. ^fes, restructuring is needed in the phar maceutical industry, but the current intel lectual process will also have to drastical ly change. WILLIAM C. LUMMA
Helena, Mont. 6
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A consulting chemist's perspectives
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READ WITH GREAT INTEREST YOUR ED-
itorial "DisturbingTrends" (C&EN, Oct. 11,2004, page 5) as well as the follow-up editorial, 'Ά Radical Notion" (C&EN, Nov 8,2004, page 5), and the many responses to "Disturbing Trends" in that issue. My perspective is very different from those in academia, government, and industry As a consulting chemist, my interactions are with others who count on my knowledge and experience to set matters straight. Viewed from the perspective of the ex pert witness andfireinvestigator, these are exciting times to be a chemist. My clients in clude attorneys, insurance companies, and lay individuals. The media has created such a negative connotation of chemicals and chemistry that myfirsttask with virtually all clients is to perform "Science 101"— estab lishing the facts in the case and then apply ing fundamental principles. Client attorneys appreciate this tack; opposing counsels gen erally don't. I have encountered opposing lawyers who actually try to invent science and have seen some of them unwittingly sound like stand-up comedians. The value of chemical literacy cannot be overstated. I have worked on many cases where ap plications of simple safety rules would have prevented explosions, fires, or releases of hazardous materials. Occasionally I work on defense cases. In a recent murder case, my team did both a "CSI" and a "Matlock" for my attorney client. A review of the crime lab data indi cated that the defendant didn't have pow der residue (the metal components of the primer compounds that ignite the gun powder) on his person. Further examina tion indicated that another person pres ent at the scene had detectable powder residue on his person. I used a dry erase board to walk the jury through the foren sic evidence. The defendant was acquitted after three hours of jury deliberation. In a case involving the use of cryogenic gases to keep electronic components cold in a military application, I learned that an im purity gas had a negativeJoule-Thomson co efficient. The net effect was a boiling point CORRECTION • Jan. 17, page 63: The Ca(N03)2-enriched liquor that saltpeter farmers ex tracted from aged dung heaps could be treated with K2C03and evaporated to yield mostly KN03.
depression that adversely affected an im portant system. When I explained that the impurity gas had to be removed at the sup plier's facility the key cause of the failure mechanism was identified and eliminated. I have worked on cases with medical pro fessionals. An M.D. can indicate that a cer tain chemical must be responsible for a con dition; my task is to determine how realistic it is for that chemical to form. I go through the underlying chemistry, and in most in stances, I am able to deduce a plausible pathway In multiple expert cases, the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. The cases that I work on have stretched me in chemistry, engineering, and physics. No two cases are identical. In addition to knowledge and experience, complete hon esty and objectivity are also required. In tegrity and reputation are essential in my business. When I visit college campuses, I make it a point to meet with students. There is a reason why one needs to take the heavy load of lab and lecture courses. Without such fundamental knowledge at one's fin gertips, those who try to invent science can create outcomes not supported by the facts. As the debate over changes in chemistry curricula at our universities continues, it is the real-world science that should drive what is taught. Students and faculty are like ly to benefit when the chemistry curricu lum meets this real-world criterion. DAVID M. MANUTA
Waverly Ohio
China coal fire burns out
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WAS MOST INTERESTED TO READ THE
Newscripts piece tided "130-year-old fire is out" (C&EN, Nov. 22, 2 0 0 4 , page 128). This is because I have a long-stand ing interest in the spontaneous heating of coal and also because I have discussed such matters with collaborators at the China University of Mining & Technology So I think I might be able to provide some fur ther insight. I do not know whether the coal that burned for 130 years was anthracite or a lower rank such as bituminous, but my in tuition suggests that it was anthracite, since China has long been known to have vast re serves of the material. Before oil-derived fuels became prevalent, anthracite was per haps the most coveted fuel in the world, and China was known to be the country with the greatest reserves of anthracite. This was formally recorded at an Interna tional Geological Congress in 1913. HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
And leave American outPThenyou have A second, related point is that anthracite coals are low in volatiles. If the 130-year just the Chemical Society—and sorry, that fire was in an anthracite deposit, one nat name's been taken for a long time. urally wonders how theflamewas sustained Please, just leave the venerable name despite a paucity of vapor-phase break of the American Chemical Society as it is. down products of the coal. However, re CLARK W. PERRY lease of flammable volatiles would not Danbury, Conn. be important if there were significant amounts of leaked methane. That leakage AVING EXPRESSED MY AVERSION TO of methane can occur in coal mines is well chemistry being referred to as mo known; there have been innumerable re lecular science, I suggest the follow lated fatalities. Although I have not dis ing as an alternative name for ACS: the cussed the fire described in C&EN with American Chemical Sciences Society; the my associates in China, I have gained the American Society for Chemical Sciences; impression that investigators with similar more broadly, the Chemical Sciences So expertise are heavily involved in the miti ciety; or my favorite, Society for Chemical gation of methane hazards in mines. Sciences. For a vivid but brief account of the un- GILES CARTER sightliness and environmental conse Clemson, S.C. quences of coal-burning utilities in China from about a decade after the 1913 con HANGE OUR NAME? NEVER. gress, one need go no further than the bi The word chemical in the name of ACS is an adjective, modifying the ography of the Duchess of Windsor (1895-1986). During herfirstmarriage, to word society to define the tool most used an officer in the U.S. Navy, she spent some by its members in their endeavors. How time in China, notably in Shanghai, while ever, in the public eye it has gradually be her husband was stationed there. Her most come a noun synonymous with chemicals. recent biography comments on the envi We are viewed increasingly not as publicronmental conditions that prevailed, and minded researchers, but as producers of a particular coal-fired power station is sin alien slimes that pollute our planet. This view has been reinforced again and again gled out for dishonorable mention. by the media in their coverage of Bhopal J. C.JONES and other tragedies. Aberdeen, Scotland For many decades, the chemical indus try has been trying valiantly to improve its image. Sixty-five years ago, DuPont em phasized its role with the slogan "better things for better living through chemistry" SEE NOTHING TO BE GAINED BY CHANGing either the name of the American Today, BASF declares, "We don't make Chemical Society or the definition of things; we make things better."The role of chemistry (Ά Radical Notion," C&EN, chemistry is not to make chemicals but to Nov 8,2004, page 5). Fifty-five years ago improve our way of life. in junior high, I learned that "chemistry is The word chemistry is about 1,500 years the science dealing with the properties, old. Hermann Kopp 160 years ago clearly composition, structure, interactions, and described the evolution of chemistry transformations of matter." Similarly, the ("Geschichte der Chemie," 1843)from"the other basic branch of physical science, art of making gold" by transmutation physics, was defined as the science dealing through "explaining and curing illnesses" to with the properties, interactions, and trans his view of the science at that time: "The formations of energy. Despite the enor task of chemistry as it now stands is to re mous development and diversification of solve compounds into their components, chemistry and its applications, this defi and to be able to produce the compounds nition of chemistry includes all of its again from their components. ... When branches from theoretical to applied, even chemistry was still the art of making gold, engineering that involves chemistry. when chemistry served only medical pur Furthermore, the idea of redefining poses, what we now consider to be the pur chemistry or chemical because some people pose of chemistry did not seem to be that infieldssuch as molecular biology or mate at all, but rather a means of reaching the rials science may feel that these terms ex goals set at that time. And the fact that clude them seems ludicrous. How can one what to us is now the purpose of chemistry study or practice any discipline that requires was recognized even in the earliest times chemical knowledge without knowing that at least as a means of achieving the con temporary goals, brings the history of the chemistry is relevant to his or her work?
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What's in a name?
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HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
earlier times into relationship with the most recent times, and at the same time re solves the question ofhow the name chem istry could be applied unchanged to such widely different aims." Kopp's analysis, which came shortly af ter Friedrich Woehler's synthesis of urea and decades before benzene was found to be a six-membered ring, still stands. Re gardless of the further evolution of chem istry to a multidisciplinary science prima rily devoted to life sciences, chemistry is still chemistry Let us stand up and fight, and not surrender to public misconcep tions of our role as polluters. Improve our image? ^ies. Change our name? Never. CHESTER E. CLAFF JR.
Brockton, Mass. HOW TO REACH US CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR • Our e-mail address is
[email protected]. • Our fax number is (202) 872-8727. • Or you can send your letter to: C&EN Editor-in-Chief 1155—16th St., N.W. Washington, DC 20036 • Letters should generally be 400 words or fewer and should include the writer's full name, address, and home tele phone; letters may be edited for purpos es of clarity and space. SUBSCRIPTIONS • Send all new and renewal subscriptions and requests for subscription rates to ACS, Dept. L-0011, Columbus, OH 43268-0011. • Changes of address, claims for miss ing issues, subscription orders, status of records, and accounts should be direct ed to Manager, Member & Subscriber Services, ACS, P.O. Box 3337, Columbus, OH 43210; telephone (800) 333-9511 or (6U) 447-3776; or send an e-mail to
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C&EN
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