32nd ECCMID, Lisbon, Portekiz, 23 - 26 Nisan 2022, ss.1, (Özet Bildiri)
Background Chirality, a geometric property of drugs, is pronounced among the
factors related to efficacy and safety. Pure enantiomers, which are considered to be
superior to racemates, are more commonly recommended and preferred in new drug
development. We aimed to evaluate chiral characteristics of the most commonly
utilized antiinfectives.
Methods Using nationwide sales data of 2019 provided by IQVIA Turkey, we
accessed 300 brands with the highest box sales figures, which consisted of 975
distinct pharmaceutical forms or strength. These brands were classified by active
substance in order to determine 191 drugs in total. Among these, drugs containing
antiinfective active substances were selected and their chiral distribution, both
overall and according to mechanism of action, were examined.
Results We identified 26 antiinfective drugs (13.6%), of which two of them included
multiple active substances. Among a total of 28 active substances, 17.9% were
achiral and 82.1% were chiral. 95.7% of those chiral drugs were pure enantiomers,
whereas 4.3% were chiral mixtures. 82.1% of active substances were antibacterials.
Top-selling drug group by mechanism of action were “cell wall inhibitors”, which
constituted 28.6% of drugs evaluated. All cell wall inhibitors were chiral and pure
enantiomers.
Conclusions The chirality status of frequently utilized antiinfectives was first revealed
in this study. The data obtained showed that both overall and among subgroups,
pure enantiomers constituted the vast majority of top-selling antiinfectives. These
drugs seem to be already in compliance with recommendations of development of
new drugs as pure enantiomers.