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Review

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 1, 753–768 (1 October 2002) | doi:10.1038/nrd915

Putting chirality to work: the strategy of chiral switches

Israel Agranat , Hava Caner & John Caldwell

Most of the new drugs reaching the market today are single enantiomers, rather than the racemic mixtures that dominated up to ten years ago. Many of the new single-enantiomer drugs were developed as such, but there are also important examples of new single-enantiomer drugs derived from 'chiral switches' of established racemates. Indeed, a well-timed chiral switch can offer enhanced therapy and further profitability as a 'line extension' of a major racemic drug with patents that are expiring.