How to GetPrescription Drugs to Market Faster

Guest: David MacMillan, PhD, Professor of Chemistry, Princeton University Developing a new medicine today can take more than 10 years from lab to market. One time-consuming step in that process involves plugging a radioactive atom into the proposed new drug so researchers can track where it goes in the body. That way they can see if the medicine is hitting its target. But the process of tagging a drug with a radioactive label is so complicated it can take months. Princeton University chemist David MacMillan’s lab can do it in just hours using blue LED lights and some chemistry magic.