Meet the Discovery Process Chemistry Team
Located in the A wing of Building 2 at Pharmaron’s Beijing Campus, you’ll find our Discovery Process Chemistry (DPC) team. On any given day you may find Dr. Yawei Dong handling a challenging photo-flow reaction, Lei Bian running a decarboxylative cross-coupling in large scale or Wensong Xiao setting up 96 catalyst screening reactions to determine efficient conditions for his C-N coupling.
DPC supports programs from late stage lead optimization through early clinical development, including phase I and phase II. This service area provides a bridge between medicinal chemistry and process chemistry, facilitating candidate selection, as it allows these chemists to work more effectively and efficiently. The DPC team are the superheroes that allow programs to get ahead of schedule.
So, what are their super powers? Medicinal chemists appreciate their ability to quickly scale-up lead candidate compounds to support animal studies. Process chemists value the DPC team’s efficient route scouting, validation and optimization before scale-up, which enables manufacturing of larger kilo-scale quantities of API more quickly. What adds to their super power appeal is their eagerness to take on a challenge and be successful. And they have the track record to prove it, with a 99% on-time delivery rate for FFS projects.
The team attributes its success to these key factors: a focus on using new and innovative technology, creative problem solving, a persistent mindset and a commitment to find a solution. Ongoing training sessions help support this drive. Most recently offered was an in-house 2-day course on photoredox chemistry, which enhanced their appreciation for the power of photocatalysis in new reactions design and their applications.
Twice a year the DPC team convenes for their “heroes of chemistry” awards, during which colleagues are given recognition for their super efforts. Pharmaron’s partners also present their own awards to recognize innovation, chemistry excellence and outstanding chemistry support.
DPC prides itself on accepting—and solving—any challenge presented. Confidence, innovation, and dedication are their key characteristics. “We dare to say that nothing is impossible!” said Donghong (Danny) Li, Executive Director, Chemistry.
Updated August 2021
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