Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc.
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Isolated from seawater, deuterium is a naturally occurring stable isotope of hydrogen that carries an additional neutron, and it is sometimes known as "heavy hydrogen." Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc. is using the properties of deuterium to create therapeutics based on existing drugs. Adding it to a compound can modify metabolism and create new applications and intellectual property, which Concert feels will enable it to develop highly differentiated medicines more quickly and at lower risk of failure. The company's lead candidate, the HIV protease inhibitor CTP-518, is a deuterium-modified version of Bristol-Myers Squibb's atazanavir.