Johnson & Johnson tried more than a decade ago to bring a fructose metabolism inhibitor to market after chemist Bruce Maryanoff, who discovered the blockbuster

Johnson & Johnson tried more than a decade ago to bring a fructose metabolism inhibitor to market after chemist Bruce Maryanoff, who discovered the blockbuster anti-epilepsy treatment Topamax, developed several of them. However, the drug failed before ever reaching a clinical trial, and J&J didn’t think funding more research would yield a commercial success, the now-retired Maryanoff said in an interview. Topamax is a good example of how drug discovery can work. The substance is an intermediate in the synthesis of a group of potential fructose metabolism inhibitors the Maryanoff group at Johnson&Johnson(J&J) was pursing. Two practices allowed Topamax to be serendipitously discovered: 1. Maryanoff's group routinely submitted synthetic intermediates to the J&J compound collection in multi-gram quantities. 2. A pharmacologist was aware of the compound collection and became aware of the similarity of the non-sugar part of the intermediate to certain anti-seizure drugs. He ordered some and decided to test it in an in vivo model. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/38039951/download https://www.researchgate.net/publication/38039951/download