2022 Peter J. Dunn Award for Green Chemistry & Engineering Impact in the Pharmaceutical Industry
A team from Merck in Rahway, NJ is the recipient of the 2022 Peter J. Dunn Award for Green Chemistry and Engineering Impact in the Pharmaceutical Industry. Merck team members receiving the award are Karla Camacho Soto, Mike DiMaso, Jacob Forstater, Nadine Kuhl, Reed Larson, Chris Prier, and Ben Turnbull.
The initial manufacturing process for nemtabrutinib—acquired through the purchase of ArQule, Inc.—relied on an 11-step synthesis. The Merck team was able to reduce this to two steps. They were also able to replace toxic solvents with biorenewable Cyrene, avoid a highly energy-intensive transformation, and employ catalysis to improve efficiency. Three new technologies were employed to contribute to the sustainability of the process: biocatalysis, enzyme immobilization, and continuous manufacturing in a packed-bed reactor. Merck estimates that the new process reduces energy utilization 70%, as well as seeing a 70% reduction in both carbon dioxide and wastewater generation.
“The development and deployment of enabling technologies that support the most robust long-term supply of our medicines and vaccines is a primary goal of our process research and development team, and we are confident that biocatalysis will continue to grow as a key driver of efficient manufacturing processes,” says L.-C. Campeau, Associate Vice President and the Head of Small Molecule Process Research & Development at Merck.
Figure 1. New MK-1026 chemical manufacturing process.
More about the Award
The Peter J. Dunn Award, established in 2016, recognizes outstanding industrial implementation of novel green chemistry and/or engineering in the pharmaceutical industry that demonstrates compelling environmental, safety, cost, and/or efficiency improvements over current technologies.
This annual award is presented at the Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference, where representatives of the winning team are invited to share their team’s innovations.
Pictured: Chris Prier and Reed Larson, Associate Principal Scientists at Merck, accept the 2022 Pete Dunn Award from David Constable and Isamir Martinez (ACSGCI) and ACS GCIPR 2022 Co-Chair, Pippa Payne of Gilead.
