From Wood Pulp to a Candidate Medicine: Green Manufacturing Technologies Enable Production of Nemtabrutinib

Green manufacturing technologies including biocatalysis, enzyme immobilization, and continuous manufacturing in a packed-bed reactor enabled Merck to produce investigational leukemia drug nemtabrutinib from a biorenewable starting material while reducing an 11-step synthesis down to just two steps! If these green technologies are the future of efficient manufacturing processes, how can all pharmaceutical companies replicate this sustainability success and support the long-term supply of necessary medicines and vaccines?

Join Associate Principal Scientists Ben Turnbull and Mike Di Maso of Merck, part of the team that won the 2022 Peter J. Dunn Award for Green Chemistry and Engineering Impact in the Pharmaceutical Industry, as they explain how they leveraged these green manufacturing technologies to efficiently manufacture nemtabrutinib from a biorenewable commodity material to sustainably push forward this investigational treatment for leukemia.

This ACS Webinar is moderated by Philippa (Pippa) Payne of Gilead Sciences and co-produced with the ACS Green Chemistry Pharmaceutical Roundtable.

What You Will Learn

  • How an 11-step synthesis was reduced to just two steps! 
  • How toxic solvents were replaced with a biorenewable to avoid a highly energy-intensive transformation and employ catalysis to improve efficiency 
  • How three green manufacturing technologies were effectively employed to contribute to the sustainability of the process

Co-Producers

Meet the Experts  

Ben Turnbull
Associate Principal Scientist,
Merck

Mike Di Maso
Associate Principal Scientist,
Merck

Philippa Payne
Senior Research Scientist, Gilead Sciences and Co-Chair, ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable

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