Chirality of New Drug Approvals (2013-2022): Trends and Perspectives

Abstract

Many drugs are chiral with their chirality determining their biological interactions, safety, and efficacy. Since the 1980s, there has been a regulatory preference to bring single enantiomer to market. This perspective discusses trends related to chirality that have developed in the past decade (2013-2022) of new drug approvals. The EMA has not approved a racemate since 2016, while the average for the FDA is one per year from 2013 to 2022. These 10 include drugs which have been previously marketed elsewhere for several decades, analogues of pre-existing drugs, or drugs where the undefined stereocenter does not play a role in therapeutic activity. Two chiral switches were identified which were both combined with drug repurposing. This combination strategy has the potential to produce therapeutically valuable drugs in a faster time frame. Two class III atropisomers displaying axial chirality were approved between 2013 and 2022, one as a racemate and one as a single enantiomer.