A deuterated drug is a small molecule medicinal product in which one or more of the hydrogen atoms contained in the drug molecule have been replaced by deuterium. Because of the kinetic isotope effect, deuterium-containing drugs may have significantly lower rates of metabolism, and hence a longer half-life.
The first patent in the US granted for deuterated molecules was in the 1970s. Since then patents on deuterated drugs have become more prolific.
Examples
SD-809 is a deuterated version of tetrabenazine. The non deuterated version of tetrabenazine is an approved drug for the involuntary movements in Huntington’s disease, however it short half-life limits its clinical efficacy. SD-809 has a longer half-life than the parent drug and has completed clinical trials. However the FDA has so far not approved the drug because the sponsor has not as yet provided data on the blood levels of tetrabenazine metabolites.
Other examples of deuterated drugs are the psychedelics beta-D and 4-D.
Concert Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2006 by Roger Tung, Christoph Westphal, and Richard Aldrich based on Tung's ideas about using deuterium to make deuterated drugs. The company held its IPO in 2014 and at that time had a compound called CTP-354 ready for Phase II trials for spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury, another compound called CTP-499 in Phase II trials for Type 2 diabetic kidney disease, and another compound, CTP-786 (deuterated dextromethorphan) partnered with Avanir.