Software Outsmarts Drug Research

Now, a programme can bypass patented drug pathways and create synthetically-produced medicines

- Latha Jishnu

CLEVER SOFTWARE programming combined with deep knowledge of chemistry is set to change the way intellectual property on pharmaceutical breakthroughs is protected or challenged. It’s called Chematica, a computer programme, that can plan chemical syntheses. It promises to make patent protection on new drugs more complex than it already is.