Synthroid (Levothyroxine) is a synthetic thyroid (T4) hormone commonly administered to treat hypothyroidism (or thyroid deficiency). It was initially synthesized by British chemists Charles Robert Harington and George Barger in 1927. As a pharmaceutical, synthroid is among the most prescribed medications in the United States, with upwards of 20 million prescriptions filled for the drug …
Adrafinil (Olmifon) is a eugeroic agent originally synthesized in the 1970s by chemists at Group Lafon, a pharmaceutical company based in France. Following its synthesis, researchers discovered that adrafinil induced wakefulness in humans, and by the mid-1980s, it was being marketed as an experimental treatment for narcolepsy. Though its exact pharmacodynamics aren’t fully elucidated, adrafinil …
Phenibut (brand name “Noofen”) is a neuropsychiatric drug originally synthesized in St. Petersburg, Russia by a team of researchers at the Department of Organic Chemistry of the Herzen Pedagogic Institute. By the 1960s, phenibut was introduced as a pharmaceutical agent in Russia for the treatment of various medical conditions including: anxiety, insomnia, and PTSD. Since …
Piracetam is a drug that was synthesized in 1964 by Corneliu E. Giurgea et al. at the pharmaceutical company “UCB” headquartered in Belgium. Chemically, it is identified as 2-oxo-1-pyrrolidine acetamide, shares the same base structure with pyroglutamic acid, and as a result of its pyrrolidone nucleus, is classified as a “racetam” compound. Following the synthesis …
Aniracetam is a drug of the “racetam” chemical classification that was initially developed in the 1970s by pharmaceutical company Hoffman-La Roche. Chemically, aniracetam is synthesized via reaction of 2-pyrrolidone with anisoyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine; hence it is sometimes referred to as “N-anisoyl-2-pyrrolidinone.” When administered to humans and animals, aniracetam functions via allosterically …
Invega (Paliperidone) is an atypical antipsychotic approved in 2006 for the treatment of schizophrenia. Several years later in 2009, a longer-acting format of the medication called “Invega Sustenna” was also approved. Invega Sustenna is an injectable form of the drug that is administered every 4 weeks and is thought to be advantageous it mitigates risk …
Fanapt (Iloperidone) is an atypical antipsychotic that was approved by the FDA on May 6, 2009 for the treatment of schizophrenia. The drug is thought to have been synthesized in the 1990s, during which its rights were sold from Hoechst Marion Roussel Inc. to Titan Pharmaceuticals, and eventually to Vanda Pharmaceuticals. It functions as an …